Justin Holbrook: In our sport you have to win at Old Trafford and win the Grand Final
St Helens Head Coach, Justin Holbrook, doesn’t want to make much of a fuss about the League Leaders Shield – as winning at Old Trafford is all that matters.
Holbrook took over from St Helens legend Kieron Cunningham during the 2017 Super League campaign – and the Saints haven’t looked back since.
A scintillating season has seen them sitting pretty atop of the Betfred Super League and the League Leaders Shield is all but secured.
A disappointing 10-30 loss to rivals Wigan halted the celebrations.
Holbrook however denies they would have celebrated big if they beat the Warriors to lift the Shield.
He explained:
“it’s a tough one, I didn’t want to make a big fuss about that, in our sport you have to win at old Trafford and win the grand final
“we obviously want to win it it’s a good achievement, we’ve been the most consistent side in 30 rounds but to do it in front of your biggest rivals with a lot of games to go.”
“I don’t think they needed that extra motivation to be honest.”
“I don’t want to rub it in their faces when what we get judged on is at Old Trafford.”
St Helens have hit somewhat of a speed bump in recent weeks.
Ever since losing their Challenge Cup Semi-Final against the eventual winners Catalans, they have suffered Super8 defeats to both Huddersfield and Wigan.
St Helens are now focusing on their trip to Perpignan in what will be a repeat of the Semi Final clash.
Holbrook believes it will be a tough trip:
“We’ll go there on the day and try and get the job done and fly straight back.”
“For us it won’t be an easy assignment, [it will be] their first home game since winning the challenge cup so they’ll want to show their fans how much they’ve improved.”
“So for us it is a tough game and we’ve got to play a lot better than we did 3 weeks ago.”
“I would have loved to have played them last week. But We’ve got to expect to play teams at their best.”
“we’re planning on the one that played the challenge cup semi-final – anything less than that is a bonus.”
Catalans Dragons v St Helens kicks-off at 17:30 at the Stade Gilbert Brutus and is live on Sky Sports Arena.