Jon Wilkin tore into his former club St Helens last night after their 24-10 defeat against 12-man Warrington Wolves with the ex-skipper questioning senior players and labelling the performance as “naff”.
After just 15 minutes, it looked like it would be a long night for St Helens as Warrington raced into a two-try lead courtesy of scores from Matty Ashton and Matt Dufty, however, Wire’s dominance was halted when prop James Harrison was sent off in the 20th minute.
On punditry duty for Sky Sports, Jon Wilkin argued that it was a definite red, something that numerous fans and Sam Burgess disagreed with as Burgess’ mic caught him claiming that he thought it should have been a yellow before he then spoke post-match about being on the wrong end of decisions.
Regardless, it wasn’t a red card that cost Warrington the game but galvanised them as they repeatedly kept St Helens out for the remainder of the first half. When Saints did get back into it and got within two points, Wire held on and scored two of their own to secure a famous victory.
There’s no questioning whether Warrington have improved under Sam Burgess but those questions do remain about St Helens under Paul Wellens, however, Jon Wilkin defended his former teammate and called into question the performance of some of the club’s senior players.
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St Helens labelled “shocking” by former captain
Credit: Imago Images
Analysing the game at full time on Sky Sports, Wilkin staunchly defended Wellens as he explained the clubs’s circumstances and argued that it was on the playmakers to do more.
He said: “What he’s going through at the minute is having half his starting team on the field and an inability for his halves to get into any shape to score any points.
“It was a lacklustre performance from his spine, and he’s got half his forwards missing. His forwards deserve medals tonight because they carried that team.”
It was a spine that featured young full-back Harry Robertson, who almost certainly wasn’t the target of Wilkin’s rant given he was making just his second appearance for the club.
However, the senior players of Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax and Daryl Clark made up the remainder of the spine and they did cop it with Wilkin labelling their organising as “pathetic”.
“The rest of the lads who were meant to organise shape and get things organised were pathetic. It was shocking,” the former St Helens skipper argued.
“They’re really tired through the middle and I understand the forwards being tired, but when you’re against a team down to 11 men to just play so laterally and come up with errors, I was bored watching. I thought it was naff.”
It marked a fourth loss in a row for St Helens, the first time the club have been on such a torrid run since 2016 but a defeat against lowly Hull FC next week would potentially sent fans of the club into complete meltdown.
Ian
July 20, 2024 at 12:48 pm
We’re not playing Hull next week.