SAINTS boss Paul Wellens must be increasingly frustrated with some of the poor discipline his players are continuously serving up.

He is finding almost every week that someone is unavailable for selection due to suspension.

Saints’ USP in the last few years compared to majority of the other teams in the Betfred Super League has been their superior defensive line speed and aggression...and that's something I know Wello would never ever want to change.

However, in the ever-changing world of sport and especially Rugby League with so much focus on player welfare and reducing the amount of head injuries, players have to learn to be far more controlled.

The one thing I loved when playing this great game was the physicality, the gladiatorial battle with your opponents and giving everything you had to make sure you came out on top.

This is one of the things that drives players to play and fans to watch. Todays game is very different in how you can do that, and there are a number of Saints players continuously crossing that line.

Now I’m not singling Morgan Knowles, who was red carded 20 seconds from the full time hooter in the Challenge Cup win over Halifax. There have been numerous players over the last 18 months who are spending too many games in the stand because of their discipline.

Everyone knows I’m a huge Morgan fan, and his best trait is his competitiveness, his will to fight for every win. However, this one he got severely wrong.

Was it worth risking such an aggressive action 20 seconds to go with the win in the bag?

The laws have tightened up so much on hitting the ball player, but in this instance Morgs went far too high, giving the referee no option to send him from the field.

This was his first game back from a previous five-game suspension, and he's now been handed a further two matches which will see him miss Leeds away on Friday, and Saints Magic Weekend duel with the Huddersfield Giants.

Currently in seventh place in the Betfred Super League table, Saints cannot keep losing some of their best players if they are to peg back some of the teams above them.

On a positive now, it was a dominant win for the champions against a very competitive Halifax side, as we now progress to the quarter finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

It has been a good few years since a Saints team ran out at The Shay! It was always a great place to play, and brought back some great memories for me.

Fax have always been one of the heartland clubs in RL, and a club with a very proud history.

It was great to see circa 5000 fans come out to watch, with over 1000 Saints faithful making it across the Pennines.

We now face Hull FC away in the last eight of the cup, but this week, all focus is back on Betfred Super League action.

Saints head back up the M62 to face the Leeds Rhinos at Headingley. The Rhinos went down 18-14 to Wigan in their Challenge Cup fixture on Saturday do will most certainly be up for it.

Rhinos themselves are having a pretty torrid time in the domestic competition, currently just behind Saints in eighth place.

I’ve been far from impressed by Leeds for a number of years now, even despite making the Grand Final last season.

They look disjointed in attack, but do have a number of players who can be match winners on their day so we have to turn up with heads on! I’m backing Saints to get the win by 12 points or more which is 2/1 at Betfred.