Sam Tomkins explains why St Helens are so good and why Leeds Rhinos failed to beat them at Old Trafford

St Helens can now stake a claim at being the best team in Super League history, perhaps even the best team ever.

This is because the Saints claimed a fourth consecutive Super League title last week with a 24-12 win over Leeds which broke the Rhinos’ own record for consecutive titles that they set in 2009.

But why have the Saints been all conquering over the last four seasons?

Well one man who knows all about what makes the Saints so tough to beat on the biggest stage has had his say.

Sam Tomkins and his Catalans teammates came up just short against the Saints in the 2021 Grand Final and this year were unable to keep pace with St Helens in 2022.

Speaking on Sky Sports after St Helens’ latest Grand Final win which came at the expense of Leeds, Tomkins explained why he thinks they’re so far ahead of the rest: “They’re the best by a long way. They have an ability to go hard go longer than any other team. The first game this year was a replay of last year’s Grand Final, we went away to St Helens and we went as hard as we possibly could and we could just not do it as long as St Helens did it.

“They out muscle teams, they out work teams.”

Meanwhile, he explained why Leeds didn’t have enough at Old Trafford to dethrone the Saints noting that effort alone isn’t enough to beat what he believes is “the best team in the summer era”:

“The reason Leeds have lost tonight isn’t down to a lack of effort, the reason they’ve lost is they’ve played the best team in the summer era and effort alone isn’t good enough.”

These sentiments were shared by Barrie McDermott who praised the Rhinos but stated he has “nothing but admiration” for the Saints: “The Rhinos can be very proud of 2022. A lot of character being shown by the men in blue and amber, they came up just short but let’s have it right the best team on the night, through the year, the last four years get to justifiably lift that trophy. I have nothing but admiration for this team.”