St Helens vs Castleford Tigers Predictions: Saints to pass penultimate test

Defeat to Warrington last weekend put a major dint in St Helens' playoff hopes, so there's lots riding on their clash with Castleford Tigers at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night (20:00).

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe is on-hand again with his St Helens vs Castleford Tigers prediction.

Never could I imagine Saints scrambling to secure a place in the top six with just two games left in the regular Betfred Super League season.

Unfortunately, this is the harsh truth as we cling onto sixth with Leeds - equal on 28 points but with a worse points difference - and Catalans - two points behind on 26 - hot on our tail.

If we are to do the unthinkable and make the Theatre of Dreams on October 12, we are likely going to have to do it the hard way by winning two away fixtures, for results would have to really go our way to finish fourth.

However, before that is a couple of must-win games against Castleford at home and the in-form Leigh at the Sports Village.

I’ll be honest, it's getting difficult to write this column every week without being too negative on the previous performance. Saturday was another dreadful display at Warrington.

I don’t need to dwell any more on the unfortunate number of injuries we've suffered this year, but some of the individual performances served up lately are just not acceptable in the Red V.

Some of the big names are just not doing it. There's been far too many unforced errors, moments of ill discipline and all-round lack of quality, especially in attack.

How Waqa Blake continues to play I will never know. I've written before about the complete lack of urgency and effort in his game and this week was a whole new low.

The big mistake he made was a forward pass from a tap restart, something you’d not even expect at under 9s. Players make mistakes, but not like that at this level…

There continues to be no cohesion going forward, with Saints yet again not only failing to cross the whitewash but barely making a line break. This is not something the Saints fans are used to seeing.

Unfortunately, we’ve been hit hard again by the Match Review Panel, with Matty Lees and Moses Mbye both handed two-game bans for misdemeanours against the Wire.

I must admit I’m absolutely baffled by Matty’s suspension. Josh Drinkwater has absolutely mugged him. It was a penalty at most for a mere push as he released the ball, but to stay down to bring in the attention of the third official was farcical.

Matty was sin-binned and Drinkwater played on… but to receive a two-match ban on top, I really don’t know what is happening to our great game. More and more players, coaches and fans are becoming disillusioned.

However, the reality is I can’t see things changing in the near future, so players have got to learn to tame this. That's easier said than done when you play as physical as someone like Matty Lees, mind.

Anyway, to Friday for what is our final home game of the season against the Tigers. Our visitors are playing for nothing but pride, but that could make them dangerous as they look to finish the campaign on a positive note.

Betfred's St Helens vs Castleford Tigers Odds are as follows: Saints 1/12, Castleford 7/1, Draw 22/1.

If Saints still have genuine ambitions and belief of picking up silverware this year, they must put on a show. Plain and simply.

We need to find fluidity in attack and start to build some confidence ahead of next week's visit to Leigh which promises to be as tough as any game this term.

On a positive note, Saints saw Jack Welsby make a shock return in the Wire game, so he will no doubt be out to prove a point on Friday and kickstart the Saints attack.

Similarly to last week, it's hard to be confident in Saints by a big margin, so the play has to be a win by 1-12 points again.

Finally, it was announced this week that one of the game's greats, my old mate Lee Briers, will join the club's coaching staff in 2025 following a two-year stint with the Brisbane Broncos.

I look forward to him joining the ranks, but at this moment I can't help but think... if only he could still pull a 7 jersey on.

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