{"id":438090,"date":"2026-02-21T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438090\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:00:08","slug":"st-helens-boss-explains-controversial-selection-choice-in-leigh-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438090\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens boss explains controversial selection choice in Leigh win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>St Helens boss Paul Rowley said the decision to drop Harry Robertson to the bench for their game against Leigh Leopards was one made protectively, but admitted \u2018his impact was fantastic\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Youth product Robertson \u2013 who only turned 20 in December \u2013 was among Saints\u2019 shining stars last year, and has made a bright start to 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Having impressed at full-back previously, many expected he would be the leading candidate to replace Jack Welsby, who has been sidelined for the next four months with a shoulder issue which requires surgery.<\/p>\n<p>But when the teamsheet was announced for the Red V\u2019s home opener against Leigh on Friday night, Robertson had been dropped from the starting 13 entirely, with head coach Rowley opting to re-jig his back-line.<\/p>\n<p>Lewis Murphy was brought in for just his second game since last May, with Deon Cross moving in from the wing to take Roberton\u2019s spot in the centres.<\/p>\n<p>Want more Love Rugby League? Add us as a <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=loverugbyleague.com\" target=\"_blank\">preferred source on Google<\/a> and ensure you never miss our exclusives and breaking news!<\/p>\n<p>Paul Rowley explains controversial Harry Robertson bench decision as honest admission made<\/p>\n<p>The line-up brought plenty of critics, but as it turned out, Robertson would be thrust into the full-back role anyway just three minutes in as Jonny Lomax was forced off with a fractured arm.<\/p>\n<p>Tristan Sailor shifted back into the halves as Robertson entered at full-back and delivered a near-perfect display to help inspire a 20-18 win.<\/p>\n<p>Post-match, Rowley detailed: \u201d\u00a0He covered options in terms of spine and the back-line (off the bench).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is good, we all know that. Taking Harry out the firing line of Tesi Niu, who\u2019s a physical presence\u2026 you forget that Harry is still a young lad growing into the game and we want to protect him a little bit, but also use him as the weapon that he is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d have preferred to have given him a more timely introduction when we needed somebody of Harry\u2019s capabilities with speed and his evasive nature to kill the game off in a different manner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he came on and rescued us in more ways than one. His impact was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Rowley\u2019s re-jig also saw youngster Owen Dagnall miss out on the 18 altogether, while highly-rated half-back prospect George Whitby was named the unused 18th man.<\/p>\n<p>The Saints boss added: \u201cOwen\u2019s in and around the first-team. Him and George, we mustn\u2019t rush young players to the detriment of their progression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, patience is a virtue, and these boys are training really hard learning in and amongst players like Jackson Hastings, Joe Shorrocks and Dave Klemmer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat education is fantastic for them, they\u2019re happy, but we trust that we can call upon them as and when the opportunity presents itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens boss Paul Rowley said the decision to drop Harry Robertson to the bench for their game&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-438090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}