Squad is out for the Cas game, which is on Sky on Friday:

1. Jack Welsby, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. LMS, 18. Kyle Amor, 19. Jake Wingfield, 20. James Bell, 21. Josh Simm, 22. Ben Davies, 24. Dan Norman, 26. Sam Royle, 27. Jon Bennison, 28. Lewis Baxter, 29. Danny Hill, 30. Jumah Sambou, 31. Taylor Pemberton, 32. Shay Martyn, 33. Daniel Moss, 34. George Delaney, 35. McKenzie Buckley, 36. Rio Osaywanbo Corkill, 37. Ellis Archer.

Likely team of:

Bennison
Martyn Davies Simm Sambou
Lussick Welsby
LMS Pemberton Amor
Royle Bell
Wingfield

Norman Baxter Buckley Hill





Get your bets in quick before the bookies spot this...

Bet365 not currently betting on the game. All other SL games quoted.

Same with William Hill.

Sad times.

few things to consider Saints have had the toughest schedule over easter after Friday it will be 1 home game in 7 inc 2 trips to the south of France oh and Ibwouldn't play Pemberton either

Highly rated Pemberton isn't he? Who would you play in the halves then, presumably you're moving Lussick to 9?

After watching Cas on Monday I still fancy Saints!

Archer and Moss Pemberton may be highly rated but was rubbish in the two A team games I saw him in

Bennison is a quality fullback. I get Saints have had to play him on the wing due to the encumbent full back of St Helens, Jack Welsby but this will be his chance to shine. He mullered Wigan playing on the wing so I expect him to rip Cas to shreds. Sambou and Royle are the other ones to wach out for

Tigers by 18 !

Can't see Welsby playing many minutes, not sure if Wingfield is fit either. Interesting to see how Hill and Baxter go on their debut.

I've known Baxter since he was a kid, be good to see how he gets on.

Sambou is a class player. His younger brother Dayon(also at Saints)is even better. Two more Warrington lads we missed out on!

I havent seen much of Dayon but I will take your word for it! Lets hope he makes it to first grade!

To be honest (and it pains me to say it) I agree with Woolf on this one.

I don’t believe the Easter schedule is right for the game and hasn’t been for some time. Matches are too intense and players need proper recovery time.

I don’t know the stats but I’d wager more injuries than average occur around Easter and the weeks afterwards.

IMO one of the reasons we lose to Australia is fatigue due to the significant number of extra games we play.

I think it’s a shame for the fans who have booked time off work and bought tickets in advance to watch what is essentially an academy side and also unfair on Castleford who will no doubt welcome a smaller number of travelling fans reducing their income on the day.

I think our academy side play Bradford Bulls about 16 hours after the Castleford game has ended, so I doubt the academy lads will play 2 games in 16 hours.

It will be an interesting game, the other one is how Leeds will go against Toulouse nervous time for Hethrington.

Been disappointed with what i've seen of Sambou so far

It would be far better to play 3 games on good Friday and 3 on Easter Monday, rather than have 2 full lots of fixtures.

Yes, the clubs need the revenue but the after effects, plus those in the actual Easter games, make a right mess of the games and more importantly, the players.

I,ve got a gut feeling that’s what they will do next season, far better quality games over the bank holidays the likely outcome.

I agree, at the end of the day, this is a squad game and flogging your first fit 17 when you have other players available is ridiculous. The great team of Manchester Utd in the late 90s chopped and changed between the competitions to keep legs fresh. You have a squad, use them!

The flip side of this is, do the paying punters want to pay £25 to watch a reserves game ?

I'm good with using the squad depth through the season, due to injuries and suspensions etc but, having to use kids because the clubs are being asked to play with a 4 day turnaround or 3 times in 8 days is just wrong.
I agree that to a point, Woolf is doing the right thing but, it skews the competition.
Giving Cas (or anyone else) 2 easy points isn't really good for the game, is it and it's on the back of having to play too many games in too short a time frame.

Surely, as far as it can be achieved, we all want to see the best players matching up and not men v boys.

With cash getting tighter, people just wont turn out to watch

The decision to field a virtual academy side is just wrong even though we all know the reason why they are doing it with a semi final on the horizon.
Would football allow this to happen?
Saints should be issued with a very substantial fine for compromising the integrity of the game.
Toulouse in particular could argue that a team have been awarded 2 points and I am sure that if the Rhinos lose tomorrow we can expect to hear of their anger.
Teams may have to field weakened sides due to injury but this is ridiculous and should not be allowed to happen.
The games governing body should hang their head in shame for allowing it to happen.

The only world class coach in SL is protecting his players from an absolutely shocking decision from some nobodies who run SL who have no care for player welfare. As for a virtual academy side (sic) pretty much most of them are in the first team squad

Don’t blame Saints for having such a stacked first team squad

It’s not an academy side our academy side play Bradford Bulls less than a day after the Castleford game. I suggest you go on the Saints website and observe who is in the first team squad for clarity.

For those moaning, ask yourselves a question - your team is top of the league, being asked to play 3 games in 8 days. You have a cup semi final the week after the third game. Would you be wanting your coach to rest the majority of the semi final squad for the 3rd game, regardless of the opposition, or would you want to flog your first choice players and risk injury/fatigue potentially costing you a cup final spot? I guarantee most would rest their first choice players. Saints have earned the right to do as they please in my opinion. Plus, anyone thinking it’s gonna be an easy game for us needs to think again. Young, fresh legs, from the best side in Superleague by a mile (and have been for the last few years) against a, potentially, fatigued side that couldn’t hold the ball on Monday if their life depended on it? I’m hopeful we’ll get the points but it’s gonna be far from easy. There’s probably a fair number of future England international players that we’ll see at our place tomorrow.