Rugby league legend tips the Saints to secure fourth consecutive title

Oldham-born Paul Sculthorpe, the RL legend having starred for Warrington and St Helens as well as England and Great Britain, pens his views as the new Betfred Super League kicks off…. 

Paul, the only player to win the Man of Steel honour in two consecutive seasons, says:

The Saints are marching into the 2022 Betfred Super League season and hopefully to glory of a consecutive fourth title on the bounce.

2021 runners-up the Catalan Dragons are in town for the opening fixture, this Thursday at the Totally Wicked Stadium. Saints, along with a few new faces are 1/3  favourites to start the season with a win against probably our biggest challengers for silverware.

There have been big changes to Kristian Woolf’s squad with a number of players moving on to new clubs…but also some great recruitment, along with a number of home-grown Academy talents promoted to the full time squad.

Before I get into Thursdays big game, I would just like to pay credit to my good friend and Saints Chairman Eamonn McManus who this month celebrates his twentieth year as club Chairman. During his tenure, the club has celebrated 6x Super League titles, 5x Challenge Cup titles, 1x World Club Challenge win…and one shiny new stadium! Eamonn played a massive part in the move from Knowsley Road, which resulted in the new entrance road into the Totally Wicked Stadium being named McManus Drive. May the 20th be a successful one… 

Back to the football, Saints go into the 27th season of Super League with a majority of the squad who weren’t even born when we switched to Summer rugby. 

Certainly two players who weren’t, but who will be key to the teams success are Jack Welsby & Lewis Dodd. Following the exit of both Lachlan Coote and Theo Fages, both players are now first choice starters in their respective full back and scrum half roles and take on big responsibilities, which we know are more than capable. 

Saints are clear favourites for both Betfred Super League and Betfred Challenge Cup glories…and something I fully agree with.

In my opinion, yet again Catalan will be our biggest challenge, led by current Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel Sam Tomkins, and new NRL star recruit Mitchell Pearce.

Following them, can it finally be Warrington’s year under new boss Darryl Powell? Having played internationally with Darryl and knowing him well, he will have made significant changes at the Wolves over the off-season. There is no doubting some of the talented individuals they have, the question is can they perform consistently to turn that into silverware.

Another club who will expect to challenge for trophies are Wigan. A whole new coaching regime and a number of new recruits, can the Warriors challenge...I’m not convinced. Saying that, I was at the Wigan-Warrington friendly and Wigan looked to be at it -  and far more fluid with the ball than most of 2021. Jai Field looked sharp on his return, and could be a major attacking threat throughout the season.

The other team heavily fancied to challenge Saints are the Leeds Rhinos. A lot of this is down to the signing of new halfback pairing Aiden Sezer and Blake Austin. I think Sezer will be a great addition and give Leeds the game-management and kicking game that they have lacked for a number of years. Former Saint James Bentley also joins the Rhinos, along with former New Zealand Warrior David Fusitu’a. It will certainly be a vastly improved squad for coach Richard Agar.

However, I still believe St Helens destiny is in their own hands, and if they consistently come out with the attitude and performances of the past few years, then there could be a few more celebrations in 2022 for the Saints faithful.