Pundit makes St Helens and Wigan Warriors’ “parallel” amid Tristan Sailor debate

A leading voice in Super League has pointed to a “loose parallel” between St Helens and Wigan Warriors, regarding Saints’ current spine uncertainty after star signing Tristan Sailor was shunted to the wing for the second game in a row.

Signed from the NRL, where he had spent most of his time at full-back, St Helens launched Sailor as their new stand-off by confirming his shirt number before any other player with the shirt number being taken from Jonny Lomax and handed to their new recruit.

The plan clearly was to have Jonny Lomax play seven and partner Sailor with Jack Welsby anchoring the spine and whilst the first impression we got of Sailor saw him score four tries, assist two and run for almost 200 metres, he was playing against effectively Salford’s academy team.

As Saints’ attack continued to misfire, Sailor was shifted to his more natural full-back with Jack Welsby in the halves before Jonny Lomax was then dropped in favour of teen sensation George Whitby, who scored a hat-trick in their recent 40-0 win over Catalans Dragons.

Sailor played on the wing against Catalans, as he did for the majority of the game against Leeds Rhinos when Jonny Lomax was brought on off the bench, and now Sky Sports‘ Brian Carney has argued that St Helens may have to accept that’s the NRL import’s best position for now.

Is Tristan Sailor on the wing the best option for St Helens?

It was certainly the best Sailor has played in recent weeks and arguably the best St Helens have played since that Round One win over Salford and Carney made reference to Wigan Warriors when they were attempting to find the best combinations for Bevan French and Jai Field, with Cade Cust also in the mix at the time.

Leading the analysis on Sky Sports, Carney said: “I want to pick up on a point Paul Wellens made about Tristan Sailor playing freely, because it ties into the dropping of Jonny Lomax, the recall of Jonny Lomax onto the bench and him starting tonight.

“It’s a loose parallel so just stick with me. It took a while for Wigan to find out how to fit Jai Field, and Bevan French and Harry Smith into the same side. Bevan was starting on the wing, Jai Field was moved into the halves to play, and Bevan French has settled in the halves with Jai Field at full back there, everybody’s okay about that.

“It’s probably taken St Helens a while to realise, don’t move Jack Welsby out of full back, George Whitby’s going to be your seven and it’s Tristan Sailor, perhaps, although he wasn’t signed to play there, to be on the wing is maybe the best position for him.”

Many would agree that Welsby at full-back and Whitby in the halves are non-negotiables for St Helens going forward so perhaps Sailor on the wing is the best option, at least until Kyle Feldt returns at which point Paul Wellens may have another headache.

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe agreed that the wing may be where Sailor ends up, claiming he showed how “devastating he can be”.

The former two-time Man of Steel winner argued: “I think a lot of the frustration with Saints fans, and certainly with myself, is that you could see what Tristan Sailor could do in the opening weeks of Super League.

“You see his pace, you see his running game, you see his agility and then it kind of fell off a cliff, as though he didn’t have the confidence to do that, to run with the ball.

“I think on the wing, it’s the only job you’ve got and we see today how devastating he can be.”