THE last three (hopefully) matches of 2018 will see plenty of focus on how Ben Barba will sign off his 16-month stay at Saints.

If last Saturday was anything to go off, then it looks like the ace full back is over his niggles and the uncertainty over his future and ready to crank it back up for the games that count.

In his all too short stint at Saints he has lit up the British game with a real superstar quality.

The North Queensland Cowboys-bound full back is genuine box office – and the fact that he has been barracked with “Barba’s going home” taunts all season shows that he is player every other team’s supporters fear and wants on their side in equal measure.

After walking on air in the spring, what made that dip in August doubly depressing was the reaction to it. But fans, who live and breathe this game and team too, have highs and lows as much as the players.

Sometimes the reaction is not always positive, but it is only because they care.

Hopefully now that there is certainty over Barba’s future, we can sit back and not just savour the last three games but also store in our memories those fantastic passages of play and tries that he has delivered in the short time he spent on the timeline of this great club.

He will be talked about in years to come – there is no doubt – but to indelibly mark his name in folklore he probably does have to sign off in the same way Mal Meninga and Jamie Lyon did by winning that final game.

So, if that is a way of saying farewell to a player who has been here for 16 months, how do we mark one who calls time on 16 years?

Former skipper Jon Wilkin has felt the often queasy effects of the Saints rollercoaster more than most during his time here since joining from Hull KR as a teenager in late 2002. There have been exhilarating highs but some lows thrown in too.

That is why it has been pleasing to see him play his last season in the red vee with a flourish, with coach Justin Holbrook spotting that he can get more quality from less minutes out of the 34-year-old.

His guile and now, in providing that link in the middle, has proved invaluable in taking the burden off a young half but also passing on his nous to a youthful pack.

He deserves the plaudits he is getting now after taking a fair few brickbats as skipper.

His willingness to put the team first – by filling in at half back when asked by a succession of coaches – probably came at some personal cost to his career.

And in hindsight it probably stopped the team from genuinely plugging that problem spot with cover.

Wilkin caught the eye straight away when he first broke into the team in 2003 – a fine passer with a smart left boot – he bore the hallmarks of an old school loose forward.

He made good use of his pace in those early days, supporting well up the middle and on the edges.

But he is also a very game, fearless player. And he would halways take the hard carries when needed and stand his ground with the toughest of opponents.

And who could forget Wilkin’s appearance at the 2006 Challenge Cup Final where despite having his shattered nose stuffed with tampons and held together with a strategically placed bandage he still managed to throw everything into the win over Huddersfield and came away with a brace of tries as Saints won the first of their three pots for the year.

Silverware was not a problem in those early years – the titles and cups came thick and fast, as did the England and Great Britain call-ups.

More than most he will have felt the lack of success post the 2008 season, compounded by having missed Saints’ Grand Final win in 2014 with a shoulder injury.

So, although the story the next three weeks will probably be to ‘send Benny off with a ring’, having endured some rough times and all those Old Trafford losses it would be an even more fitting way for Wilko to sign off.