A BIRD in the hand is worth two in the bush….it is an old adage that plenty have alluded to with regards to Saints’ approach to managing the tough period of three games in eight days.
Here are this week's set of six talking points.
1. Saints rested the top squad for Salford last Monday and were agonisingly beaten late on, and then came off second best at home to Wigan. With a return of zero points from the past two games handing top spot handed to Wigan you can understand a school of thought that says bank the two points.
And for Saints fans this week it was particularly galling that Salford could not fulfil their next fixture and handed Warrington an easy walkover victory.
With regards to fixtures we can all say two points is two points no matter who the opponent – but anyone recall Nathan Brown getting roasted for saying that with reference to a lost Good Friday in 2014? Admittedly that was made worse by losing the Easter Monday game at Widnes three days later…..and that Saints side ended up winning the Super League.
The congested end of season programme does mean coaches have to juggle – Leeds, Wigan and Warrington have all used their younger squad members in recent weeks – and lost points accordingly.
The rotation of the squad was not simply for putting all the eggs in the Wigan basket, but clearly a calculation not to burn out the squad ahead of the play-offs.
2. Friday’s defeat was the first against Wigan since 2018 – and in some ways there were similarities not least in the physicality and ferocity of the Warriors defence and the errors Saints made. After that particular defeat Justin Holbrook expressed his surprise about massively motivated Wigan, hurt by losses, were to avoid a 3-0 whitewashing. We saw that again on Friday night….Wigan were so up for it - and you could hear that by the way they were whooping at the end.
Saints matched them at first in a tough, set-for-set opening half….but paid a heavy price for four key errors and watched the game unravel from there.
3. That Saints missed the suspended Alex Walmsley is an understatement. Although one player should not make a team, a Big Al carry has been Saints’ starting point for the last two years.
And let’s not forget both his and Luke Thompson’s role last year when they marmalised Wigan in the semi final. Saints’ title charge last year – especially that play-off win - was built on the twin hammers of Big Al and Tommo smashing the ball in, with James Roby exploiting the quick play the balls and enjoying the space out wide off the back of that.
The failure the make any headway in those carries, particularly later in the game against a defence that was up and aggressive (and up even quicker on the edges) made for uncomfortable viewing as the ball kept being turned back inside and Saints kicked more and more on the back foot.
We all want to see the ball out wide, but the key to that is what happens in the middle.
4. One thing that Friday showed was the need to try and vary the kicking game. Early on when Saints had good ball, the standard end of set tactic seemed to be a Theo Fages kick wide to 6ft 5 Wigan winger Joe Burgess….he’ll take those above his head all day.
Although Lachlan Coote slid in a few more grubbers to mix it up and win a repeat set (that they subsequently fluffed) a much more varied attacking kicking game is needed to build pressure, ask questions and prise open tight defences. This is especially so on soggy pitches.
Modern rugby league, alas, tends to be all about playing percentages but would the odd diagonal kick across to for the likes of Regan Grace and Tommy Makinson to chase put doubt in the minds of the rapidly advanced defence?
5. There were quite a few high tackles on Friday, with Jonny Lomax in particular copping a couple. The game makes a lot of noise about head injuries and protocols that follow such incidents, but then seem to blow hot and cold when it comes to contact with the head.
One week it is a red, the other a yellow and then, like on Friday, a couple of penalties and a word in the ear.
READ: Punishments from Wigan game>
Coach Kristian Woolf said some of those tackles crossed the line and expected repercussions, but we need to have consistency in this area.
6. Who knows how this year is going to end. And at the moment we are all relieved that the sport has avoided being locked down.
There are calls to curtail the season….and with good reason, with Castleford’s next two games now cancelled.
The best thing to do in these circumstances is to have an orderly end to the league campaign. Call time on the league programme now and go for a top five play off (as was originally planned before Covid). There are clearly five teams who deserve a shot at play-offs.
That top-five system would not only sideline any potential spat between Leeds and Catalans over who has the right to the fourth spot, but is much fairer on the teams finishing in the top two on merit.
The league table is already compromised by the unfulfilled fixtures, dragging it to the final bell would be an undignified spectacle ahead of the play-offs. These are strange times, but it is time to press the reset button again.
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