Club legends Paul Sculthorpe and Jon Wilkin have become the latest to question the St Helens attack after their defeat to Warrington Wolves, with Paul Rowley’s side kept to just six points in the loss.
It marks the fourth loss in five games for Saints but what is more startling is that during those five games, they have failed to score a try in six of the ten halves of rugby, with last night’s second half another example of that.
Saints failed to score in the second half last week in defeat to Leeds, didn’t score in the opening 40 against Castleford the week prior, scored just two points from a penalty in the narrow win over Huddersfield, and were nilled in the Challenge Cup game against Wigan Warriors.
In total, they have scored just 58 points in their last five games across all competitions which, at the time of writing, is the second-fewest of any team in Super League with only bottom-of-the-table Giants, against whom the Saints score 26 of their points, scoring less.
Of course, fixtures have been tough with Leeds, Wigan and Warrington among the five most recent opponents but the stats are still alarming and after scoring just six points on Thursday night, it had Sculthorpe and Wilkin calling for changes.
“You’ve got to ask questions in attack,” two-time Man of Steel winner Sculthorpe declared.
“They don’t ask enough questions around the ruck in attack. You’ve got Joe Shorrocks, who is catching and passing five times in each set – and it’s not good enough.”
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St Helens urged to play George Whitby to help torrid attack
Jon Wilkin also had his say and whilst he credited Warrington’s defence, which is currently best in Super League in terms of fewest points per game conceded, Wilkin too noted the lack of help for players such as George Whitby.
The youngster has played the past two weeks amid the ban for Jackson Hastings though that suspension ends next week when St Helens host Huddersfield and Wilkin has called on Paul Rowley to stay loyal to Whitby.
He argued: “They need to give George Whitby a run. George Whitby would be happy with his performance, elements of what he does are nice, but the middle unit need to get him the ball in more space.
“They don’t disrupt the defensive line enough to give Whitby and (Jack) Welsby space. Therein lies the crux of the problem.”
It’s also now confirmed that St Helens will be without Jonny Lomax as a broken jaw was confirmed for the veteran, meaning it could be George Whitby and Jackson Hastings in the halves though Tristan Sailor did have moments playing out of six against Warrington.
Whatever the answer is, it is clear that the St Helens attack and their spine is a ‘hot topic’, something that Paul Rowley had disputed on Wednesday when he spoke to the media.
