SAINTS' second consecutive win over Wakefield Trinity was a huge improvement on the display six days previously. Here are half a dozen talking points arising from the week.
1. Saints are top of the Super League with 22 points and a win tally of 78.57 per cent. That is is two league points ahead of Wigan and Warrington who have 71.43 and 66.67 per cent respectively.
This season, given the probability that not all games are going to be completed given the effects of Covid postponements, the top four will be decided on percentages.
The mathematical formula does make a little more difficult to calculate with any certainty how many points are needed to secure the top four berth - particularly as we don't know whose matches could get canned.
But for those asking the percentage is based on wins from games played so to work out the percentage simply divide the number of wins, 11 in Saints' case, by the number of games played, 14.
That gives us the current 78.57 per cent figure.
If Saints win their next two games that would be 13 divided by 16 x 100 and give 81.25% , but if they were to lose their next two games, that would be 11 divided by 16 and drop them down to 68.75%.
2. Thursday's win was a huge improvement on the week before. The daft errors were cut out totally, and they were methodical in their approach - wearing Trinity down and then working the space to score both up the middle and on the edges.
There had been plenty of criticism about the error-strewn display of the week before - but the players tend to be their own task-masters. They will have made sure that they were on their game.
Wakefield simply could not live with them and back up from the week before, prompting their coach Chris Chester to threaten players with the sack. As Harold Wilson once said, A week is a long time in rugby league.
3. How good was it to see Tommy Makinson score that hat-trick.
Makinson's work at Saints was missed during his five-week suspension for such a daft act. Yes, the work he does in yardage and on those kick returns is vital to getting on the front foot.....but the thing everyone wants to see is him scoring.
Two of those tries in particular seemed absolutely impossible touchdowns. With Regan Grace getting in the act, too, on Thursday Saints are certainly blessed with some real finishing prowess on those flanks. Something that they can exploit but only if they get their jobs done in the middle to earn that right.
4. What can we say about James Roby? 60 tackles last week, two tries this week to bring up a Super League century - the Saints skipper is not yet showing any sign of dipping for the great rugby league finishing line.
Roby's tries are like buses - having not scored a Super League try since June 2019 - and he snaffled a brace there on Thursday to give Saints a great start that they never looked like relinquishing.
5. Roby left the field on 55 minutes to be initially replaced by young half Lewis Dodd.
There has been the sort of clamour for the 18-year-old Widnesian not seen since the anticipation ahead of Regan Grace's first shot.
The coach has been patient with Dodd, introducing him as the 18th since the lockdown, and then dipping him in off the bench.
After a short spell at 9 on Thursday, he replaced Jonny Lomax in the halves and was involved enough to show the flashes that underline his huge potential. There was a couple of varied kicks, a few dashes and of course that zip to the line to score his first try.
As the weeks roll on, with the three in eights approaching, expect Dodd to be starting some games in the halves and it will be great for his development to see what he can do at the start of games at this level.
6. Saints will welcome newly-crowned Challenge Cup winners Leeds to the TWS on Friday. Hopefully Leeds will revive the old post Challenge Cup Final tradition between these sides going back to 2001. The week after Saints won the cup that year they went to Headingley and copped a 74-14 mullering.
But as skipper Chris Joynt wrote, philosophically, in his book: "I don't think anyone was that bothered - we had been on the lash for a fair few days. If you can't have a drink after completing a treble, when can you?"
All pics: SWpix.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here