ALTHOUGH Saints coach Kristian Woolf put the blame for last night’s home defeat on his own side’s handling errors and poor discipline – he did once again raise a particular bugbear that he says needs looking at.

On two occasions, late in the game when Saints had good attacking ball on the Cas line, play was stopped for lengthy periods.

The prolonged stoppages to treat Castleford injuries took the sting out of Saints’ momentum – and on one occasion turned over the ball on the first play.

Woolf had raised similar concerns, in almost identical circumstances, after the Warrington game.

He was not using it as an excuse for the defeat or the performance, but he said: “I have said this before and it is something we are going to have to look at.

“You can’t stop the game for three or four minutes and then (the player) gets back up and plays on.

“That is not what the rules are designed for.

"When there is fatigue in the game and someone is in attacking position we need to come up with something that if you are going to stop the game there needs to be something in place where you either need to leave the field and get treated, or be off the field for a certain period of time.

“That is the rule in the NRL for the same reason.

“But it is not why we lost the game tonight but it is something that has to be looked at because it is becoming too regular.”