Paul Sculthorpe: Saints Are On The Verge Of Making History

Oldham-born Paul Sculthorpe, who made his name at Saints becoming a double Man of Steel winner, is a Betfred TV pundit. Here is his view of Saturday's Betfred Super League Grand Final...

This Saints team are on the verge of immortality in our great game, as they aim for four consecutive Betfred Super League titles.

If they can achieve this by beating the Leeds Rhinos in Saturday's Grand Final at Old Trafford, they will have won FOUR in a row against FOUR different teams…showing just how consistently dominant they have been.

Our 2019 Grand Final opponents Salford, were very worthy semi-finalists after an outstanding second half of the season, finishing 6th in the regular season. A one-sided eliminator win against the Huddersfield Giants earned them the trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium to face the league leaders, and 80 minutes from the finale.

You have to credit the visitors too, who despite going 12-0 down never stopped battling, and got back to within one point, with just a Jonny Lomax drop goal the difference.

Saints flew out of the blocks, and showed that steely, aggressive defence which this squad is famous for. They started like the champions they are, threatening the Salford line on numerous occasions. Finally they turned that pressure into points via two Joe Batchelor tries both converted by Tommy Makinson. A Kallum Watkins try kept the Red Devils alive, but the Lomax one-pointer on the half time hooter kept the Saints two scores ahead at 13-6.

The second half hit a bit of a lull for a while, and scrappy as fatigue set in on both teams, but it was the home side that finished the stronger with the outstanding Jon Bennison refusing to give up the chase on a Lomax kick that looked to be going dead. He touched down and confirmed Saints place in the big final. Our soon to be departing coach Kristian Woolf spoke in his post match press conference of the boost that the Saints faithful gave the players during that second half, something the players will hope to hear again at Old Trafford.

So, it’s Leeds Rhinos who stand in the way of Woolfy’s dream send off, after a surprising win away at Wigan. The Rhinos, like Salford are a million miles away from the pretty grim performances they showed in the opening couple of months. Step up new coach Rohan Smith - and they have now won 11 of their last 13 games.

They will however be missing key playmaker Aiden Sezer who failed a HIA following a late high tackle, and subsequent sending off of John Bateman.

However, there will still be plenty of talent on both teams. Leeds welcome back Rhyse Martin from suspension, also Harry Newman to add significant strike on the edges.

Talking of strike, it was great to see the return of Mark Percival against Salford, and back with his lack of self-preservation style of play! His return is a massive boost for the team ahead of the final. Jonny Lomax again proved how important his distribution and kicking game are, allowing Jack Welsby to just play.

Leeds have proved over the years they can do the business on the biggest stage, but I still believe even if they are the form team going into this game, that Saints will have too much. I’m going for a fourth straight title, by six points or more  (10/11 at Betfred), and an in-form Batchelor to again get the opening try, 14/1 with title sponsors Betfred.