Paul Sculthorpe has aimed criticism the way of St Helens winger Lewis Murphy after his performance in the defeat to Wigan Warriors.
The Saints speedster made a return from injury in the loss and had a tough evening, dropping a ball from kick-off and being beaten to a kick behind from which Wigan scored.
Sculthorpe, a Saints legend following his time at the club, was writing in his column for the St Helens Star as he expressed his disappointment in the former Wakefield Trinity man.
“The final Wigan try pretty much summed up what I’ve said about St Helens this season,” he said. “French chipped the ball into space behind the Saints defensive line, to which Lewis Murphy should have quite easily been first to.
“Unfortunately that lack of effort, urgency and damn right desire to win the race saw Adam Keighran pick his pocket and collect the ball to score.
“Having seen Murphy come through as a youngster at Wakefield, I was excited to see what he would do at St Helens. Sadly, I’ve seen very little…especially defensively week after week, and in this game virtually every Wigan try came via Saints left edge.
“But the lack of competitive spirit and desire is hard to watch. Yet is handed a new three-year deal? This worries me going forward in building a Saints we know, a Saints that competes for silverware, not a club scrambling to make the play-offs?”
Murphy returned to Super League after a short stint down under in the Sydney Roosters pathways. He returned with Saints last year and has so far made 22 appearances, scoring 14 tries.
Despite injuries restricting his involvement since heading to BrewDog Stadium, Murphy was handed a three-year contract extension earlier this year.
That defeat to the Warriors has left Saints outside the play-offs with seven rounds remaining. They have never failed to make the finals series in the Super League era.
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