A rematch of last season’s Grand Final, St Helens host Salford in what promises to be an entertaining and exciting fixture.

Saints lost just four games all year in 2019 and, despite the departure of excellent head coach Justin Holbrook, ex-Tonga coach Kristian Woolf will be looking to hit the ground running.

Good news for Saints fans too as they have won seven on the trot against the Red Devils. Infact, Salford haven’t beaten the Saints since 2017.

The sign of a good team is one that doesn’t need additions, and, that is true for Saints heading into the new season. The likes of Adam Swift (Hull FC), Ryan Morgan (released), Luke Douglas (released) and Danny Richardson (Castleford) have all departed the club.

For Salford, it’s a case of 12 new recruits and the ability of Ian Watson to embed those into a club that spectacularly reached last year’s Grand Final. With eight departures though – including first-teamers Jake Bibby, George Griffin, Jackson Hastings amongst them – it’s going to be yet another rebuilding stage for the Red Devils.

It’s perhaps likely to be a close one, but at Langtree Park, Saints were unbeaten in 2019 and nothing suggests that this unbeaten run will be broken anytime soon.

ERL PREDICTION

St Helens for the win.