SAINTS boss Kristian Woolf hailed the performance of hat-trick man Tommy Makinson as one of the highlights of a much improved display in the 48-6 win over Wakefield Trinity.

Makinson, in his second game back after missing five weeks through suspension, scored three wonderful tries.

"Tommy has a terrific ability to finish tries.

"One of those it looked like the opportunity shuts down but he still finds a way to get over the line.

"I love his try scoring ability but the thing I was most impressed about was the way he carried the ball of the back fence and got us on the front foot. That was exceptional."

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Veteran captain James Roby touched down twice to bring up a century of Super League tries while teenage half-back Lewis Dodd scored the first try of his career on his second substitute appearance.

"I thought we played really well," said Saints coach Kristian Woolf. "There was a bit of a different feel through week.

"You could see we had learned our lessons from last week and in the first half in particular we played some really good footy.

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"What pleased me the most was Wakefield had a go and defended with some real desperation there and we were able to break them down.

"That is what we look like when we are at our best.

"We do defend well and really aggressively. We played some good footy off the back of it."

There were no injury concerns arising from the game apart from the standard bumps and bruises.

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"We now have a lot of games coming really quickly and it will be a tough little period. To win the comp this year you are going to have to use your whole squad and it will have a real role to play.

"That is going to come true in the next couple of weeks," Woolf said.