SAINTS forwards laid a strong platform for Friday night's victory over Huddersfield.

Although the short, powerful bursts of Luke Thompson and Alex Walmsley caught the eye Cumbrian prop Kyle Amor provided the reliable cornerstone to the pack in an hour long stint.

The Star caught up with him on Monday after training.

MC: They got plenty of minutes out of you on Friday - and that allowed the interchanges to work so effectively.

KA: It was great to see the likes of Luke Thompson and Alex Walmsley come off the bench and add something, but the pack needs the steadiness holding the fort too.

That's my job - I am not a Big Al who can blast a million blokes away, my job is pretty simple; hold the fort and take the arm wrestle to them.

With us having the luxury of having a big young bench we can throw them on and they can do what they do well. It is all very much a team effort.

MC: You must have been delighted with the platform you collectively laid for Luke Walsh?

KA: We knew it was going to be a big physical test and as a group of forwards we stuck to our part of the deal and allowed Walshy to play probably the best game I have seen him play for us. Luke managed the game, controlling it with his kicking.

Its no big secret that if we give him a platform to play off he can do things like that because he is a world class player. There were times last year where as a full group we probably let him down at times in that area, in certain games.

But the way we finished as a group last year has given us a lot of confidence going into this year and we very much know what works for us.

We have two or three years together, so now is the time to stake our claim and try and get back to Old Trafford and win it.

We had a great pre-season camp, but to come from winning it to being bridesmaids twice galvanises you as to what works and what doesn't work.

MC: Was last year a difficult one to back up after the against-the-odds Grand Final win - a few things did not fall into place when restored to a full complement?

KA: One thing I thought was maybe we probably gave ourselves pats on the back at key moments of the season. We ended up in a lot of scrappy fights with supposed lesser teams. That is an attitudinal thing and I don't think we were where we needed to be.

That comes from the fact that we had won it and were a young team. I don't think we realised the pressures of coping with every team trying to take you off.

I don't think we dealt with that the best we could. If we were to go on and win it this yearI am sure the following year would not be like that again.

MC: So what lessons have been learned?

KA: We have learned that there are certain points of the season where you really need to grab the bull by the horns. There were times like losing at Hull KR and the games over Easter which really hurt us.

If we had won two of those we would have finished top of the tree.

Certain points this year our senior group will point out what needs to be done and we will hopefully approach it with a different mentality.

MC: There were points in 2014/15 when cup knockouts and Easter left the team looking a bit forlorn and bewildered. How do you stop that happening?

KA: Well it is a ruthless competition so if you start feeling sorry for yourself it will chew you up and spit you out. In rugby you live game by game - certain times it won't go right and people are going to have off days. Maybe a couple of times last year we probably didn't respond as well as we should. The job of the senior group here is to gee each other up and make sure we are ready to go and have as few blips as we possibly can.

MC: You had your own blip in the summer, did being stood down for a game do the trick?

KA: I let myself down and stopped doing the things I had done for a number of years, not though lack of motivation but I stopped working as hard as I needed to.

Keiron recognised that and it allowed me time to have a think about things. I thought how lucky I am to be at a club like this and always prided myself on working hard. There was a time over a three or four week period where I was not doing what I need to be doing at a club like this.

Even a 28-year-old can learn a lot about himself. I went back to route one and as they say, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

MC: You finished the year strongly though, after that.

KA: I was happy the way the year finished and I'm very much in the thick of it every day and just trying to better myself and make sure it is right for the team.