Grand Final Review #1 - St Helens finally read the 'how to win a big game' manual

16 points clear at the top of Super League. A 17-point winning margin in the Grand Final. An aggregate score of 63-10 in their play off series. 3 Super League defeats all year. It was a year of dominance in the Super League for St Helens who got their just rewards on Saturday night, with a Grand Final victory.

Despite a great season, this would have meant little without the crowning glory of a championship. They have, without question, been the dominant force in the northern-hemisphere game for the last two seasons.

But what was open to questioning was their ability to deliver on the big occasion. For all of their dominance, they had delivered none of the major honours. Two League Leaders’ Shields sat proudly in the trophy cabinet, but there was a gaping space left for one of ‘the big ones’.

In 2018, they were defeated in semi-finals by Catalans and Warrington and suffered the same fate at the hands of old adversaries Warrington in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final. What had started as mummering’s that St Helens struggled in big games had turned louder, into open accusations of being ‘chokers’ and ‘bottlers’.

Did this motivate St Helens onto glory? Maybe it did. What cannot be doubted is that there was a change in attitude after that Wembley defeat both off the field and on it. Off the field, the club adopted a more ruthless stance. Eamonn McManus’ astonishing attack on the match officials at Wembley appeared to have the primary aim of creating an ‘us vs them’ siege mentality.

The majority of the focus in the build up to the Grand Final was on Salford. It would not be a surprise to hear that St Helens will have used that to further that mentality. The talk would have been about how little had been made of their league achievements over the last two years and how every rugby league fan outside of St Helens would have wanted Salford to win. Maybe apart from Swinton fans!

Wembley's big game defeat could have sent St Helens in one of two directions. In 2018, semi-fonal defeat clearly hampered them, with a noticeable decline leading to an inauspicious exit in the Super League semi-finals. This year, the Cup Final defeat motivated them. The chokers tag and derisory songs sang by Warrington fans and players alike seemed to motivate St Helens into a team that would not be denied again.

After their victory at Old Trafford, Alex Walmsley sprinted a full 70 metres to celebrate in front of the Stretford End, packed with St Helens fans. The celebrations of all associated with St Helens were filled with joy, but also relief. Relief that a two-year period of dominance did not go totally unfulfilled.

On the field, there was a clear shift in focus too. The changes were subtle and St Helens performances in the play offs have been more controlled. They reduced their number of errors significantly and played with a great deal more patience. These factors hampered them before and it was evident that the team focussed on addressing those weaknesses.

St Helens played a smart game last night and adapted well. With Old Trafford’s narrow in-goal areas, they often chose to run on the last tackle, trapping Salford within 10 metres of their own line, instead of risking a seven-tackle set from a 20-metre restart. It took 15 minutes for them to find the breakthrough, but there was no element of panic that we have seen previously against a stubborn defence.

This did reappear towards the end of the first half as Salford grew into the game and arguably started to dominate. Half time probably came at a good time for St Helens to allow them to regroup.

The second half started very evenly, but the 49^th minute Mark Percival try to extend St Helens’ lead to 12 points put Salford in a position that very few teams recover from to win in a major final. This try calmed nerves amongst the St Helens players and fans, and they saw the trophy home with an unspectacular but composed final half hour.

Whilst it was an excellent team performance last night, it is appropriate to single out some individuals for praise. Luke Thompson, the Harry Sunderland award winner being one. He has been excellent all season, but in the play-off, series has lifted his game to another level. He put in a 72-minute stint in which he could untold problems to the Salford defence.

Under Holbrook’s reign, Thompson has lifted himself to being the outstanding prop in Super League and the best Englishman in that position. He does still have some time to run on his contract with St Helens, but NRL interest will be inevitable.

Lachlan Coote had a poor game at Wembley, but more than made up for it at the Grand Final. He offered St Helens direction around the field, contributed with an excellent kicking game and handled every kick that Salford threw at him in defence. He must have pushed Thompson all the way for the man of the match award.

Mark Percival probably had his best game in a big match too, coming up with the vital try to take the game away from Salford, excising the demons of a play-off semi final against Castleford in 2017.  Finally, Theo Fages pulled off a number of excellent cover tackles to prevent Salford half-breaks turning into something more.

The last word must go to the head coach, Justin Holbrook. He departs as a champion, in the way that he deserves. He took over the club when they were 7^th in the league and coming off the back of a 50-point defeat to Castleford in the Challenge Cup.

The squad itself hasn’t changed that much since. But he has made some changes, such as moving Jonny Lomax to stand off, developing players such as Luke Thompson and Morgan Knowles and bringing in academy products such as Regan Grace, Matty Lees, Jack Ashworth and Aaron Smith.

More importantly, the toxic atmosphere that surrounding the St Helens club before his arrival lifted. The disconnect between fans and club has been lifted. Not many St Helens fans would have predicted a two and a half years like this in May 2017.

He has rebuilt the club from one that was on the decline, back to one at the peak of the English game and he will forever be remembered in St Helens for doing that. Equally, he has transformed the style of St Helens from, in the utterances of Keiron Cunningham “the Grind”, back to the flamboyant.

St Helens are the deserved champions of 2019. They will face a number of challenges to their crown next year, especially with Wigan and Warrington making some eye-catching recruits. Those are debates for another day though, this year belongs to St Helens.