Hurrell dazzles on Saints Debut

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Super League returned in style with a physical 2022 curtain-raiser between the 2021 grand finalists as St.Helens ran out 28-8 winners to continue Catalans’ losing streak from the end of last year’s regular season.

This game posed a much anticipated first outing in the red V shirt of Saints for Konrad Hurrell. Big things are to be expected from him, and the question on everyone’s mind was whether he could return with the impact he showed in 2019 and 2020. On his first 2022 outing, Hurrell did not disappoint the home crowd on his debut.

Hurrell looked a leaner, fitter, and more physical version of the player we saw in 2021 at Leeds Rhinos. He was instrumental in the first half with his physical presence, strong defence and dominating drives. The 30-year-old Tongan caught the attention of defenders with every carry and still managing to show his flair with seemingly impossible offloads. His magical 26th-minute offload to James Roby gave St.Helens their second try of the game. The icing on the cake for the debutant came in the seventy-third minute with an interception try for the big Tongan.

However, it was Steve Mcnamara’s Dragons who drew first blood in the Super League opener. Drinkwater had twenty-eight try assists in 2021 and the standoff continued this form with a pinpoint accurate kick finding Fouad Yaha in the corner to head over the whitewash.

Despite the new season, it was familiar discipline issues for the Dragons that proved to be their downfall once again as Gil Dudson received a yellow card for punching out at a Saints defender just a minute into the game. This trend continued as they continuously gave away valuable possession to the Saints and virtually piggy-backed them down the field.

Furthermore, the constant defending proved too much and brought on an onslaught of Saints tries from Roby, Dodd, and a double from Tommy Makinson to quickly take the score to 16-6. That being said, Saints did miss the boot of Lachlan Coote as none of the tries were successfully converted in the first half, consequently keeping Catalans in the game.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first in terms of the ill-discipline of Catalans, coming to a head in the 71st minute with the sending off of debutant Dylan Napa for a monstrous challenge that collided with the head of Percival. Referee Liam Moore showed absolutely no hesitation in reaching for the red card. The new signing from Canterbury Bulldogs had been aggravating the Saints players throughout the duration of the game, and will likely see some further sanctions for his troubles.

A second-half shutout from the Saints sealed the win, with points for the hosts coming from a penalty converted and debut tries for Joey Lussick and Konrad Hurrell.

All in all, it was not a perfect performance from the reigning Champions, but they were able to get the job done thanks to excellent debuts and clinical play. Without question, Saints have laid a marker down as to why they are categorically the team to beat this year.

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