Top of the Super League table and one of the most impressive defensive starts to a league campaign in the modern era: but does anyone still know quite what to make of Paul Wellens’ St Helens in 2024?
The positives are clear. Granted, they may not end the weekend at the summit but after a dramatic victory against Huddersfield, for now, it is the Saints who sit on top. This early-season success has, without question, been built on their granite-like defence.
In nine league games, they have conceded just 70 points. Only two sides in the history of Super League – Bradford in 2000 and St Helens in 2022 – have conceded fewer than that at this stage of a league campaign. But for all their defensive prowess, their attack has been severely below par: and it almost cost them.
The fact Wellens had to reshuffle his spine midway through a first half in which the hosts trailed 12-0 against a Huddersfield side looking for a sixth straight win underlined that. “I thought our attack was becoming a little bit too predictable,” Wellens said when asked why he took off full-back Jon Bennison.
In the end, his side were able to gather some semblance of fluidity to win, with tries from Tommy Makinson and Daryl Clark levelling the score at 12-12 before Jonny Lomax’s drop goal in the final minute won it for the Saints. But valid questions remain about the hosts’ attack, and whether it can get them to another Grand Final.
Credit must also go to their opponents for making it such a difficult night. Huddersfield have improved in recent weeks after a slow start and, having played seven of their first nine league games away from home, they look like real contenders for the playoffs in 2024.
Tries for Kevin Naiqama and Adam Swift put them into a deserved 12-0 lead and their coach, Ian Watson, said: “I can say Saints deserved it with the way they won the field position in the second half, but we were better in the first half.” He was right.
In fact, the game’s decisive moment was when the Saints looked likely to be cut open again when trailing 12-0, only for Makinson to pluck a Tui Lolohea pass from mid-air, intercept and turn a potential 18-point deficit into a six-point one.
From there, the Saints grew into the task and, having had two tries disallowed after half-time, they levelled when Clark exploited an inexplicable error from Jake Connor, who protested he had been hit in the face and turned away from Clark as he attacked, to make it 12-12.
Lomax kicked the winning point in the final minute, the only time the Saints had been in front all night. Given their dominance after falling behind early on, they did deserve it, as Watson said. But this St Helens side may yet have to find another gear or two in attack this year, it seems.
