Kristian Woolf explains Saints picks for Wigan and Wakefield

Getting the team up to the mark and used to the intensity of finals football was ther main consideration in the coach's mind with the Wigan game - despite missing the majority of his backline.

Only a few members of that team backed up against Wakefield, prompting some fans to question doing it that way around. 

They lost both games - the first time Saints have lost two in a row since before the March 2020 lockdown - but it did not matter as they secured the top spot with Wigan losing at Hull KR.

Woolf explained: "We were always going to field our strongest side against Wigan.

"That is a game that means a lot to the players first and foremost, but everyone involved in the club including the fans.

We wanted to go out to try and win that game with the strongest team we possibly could – even though we were a little bit short of personnel.

"We wanted to use that game – the intensity of it, the feeling, atmosphere and crowd – like a finals game.

"We wanted to use that to get that experience and we will get some learning from that."

Of the numbers 1-17, only Tommy Makinson, Joey Lussick and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook played against Wakefield. 

Players like James Bell, Jake Wingfield, Ben Davies and Jon Bennison were among the players backing up from Wigan.

Woolf said: "We have a lot of senior blokes who have been playing every single week, who haven’t had a break and are a bit banged up.

"We could have rolled them out and gone out and made sure we won that game with our best team possible.

"But that would have been a real risk with a number of guys and probably would have lived to regret that decision if we were to have some key players not available for the semi finals in a couple of weeks time.

"We made a smart decision to look after the players.

"The leading blokes who did play, played short minutes against Wigan or have not played every game.

"It was a good opportunity for some of those to be leaders."