It’s not baiting or trolling in any way shape or form. St Helens will naturally draw attention due to the sheer number of withdrawn players coupled with the fact they have form for it.

What’s more of a headline, club withdraws 8 players or club withdraws 2?

My criticism is aimed at all clubs who withdrew players unnecessarily. Some are without doubt justified and the right thing to do. Others aren’t. It’s no wonder our sport is viewed as a joke when internationals which should be the pinnacle of the game are treated with such contempt.

The thing was most of the players should never have been picked in the first place why pick and injured or suspended player.

Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival and Alex Walmsley are injured,

Morgan Knowles is suspended

while Matty Lees, Lewis Dodd and Jonny Lomax have now also been pulled out.

The rumour on redvee is that both Lees and Dodd did not train for Saints this week either so the only player withdrawn was Lomax the rest were all injured or suspended

Yeah, Dodd, Lomax, Walmsley, Lees and Makinson all looked really injured last night

He picks the 'squad' for a get together to talk about plans for the future and not just that one game. All of those players will be in his plans for Tonga at the end of the year.

They did. Makinson made a cover tackle early on and struggled to get back up from that. He looked to be struggling throughout the game. Dodd and Lomax were both fit, but apparently didn't train and it's arguable you wouldn't pick either for England on form anyway.

Walmsley was coming back from a long absence with injury so again excusable. Lees is the one really you can identify as having been 'pulled' but he was released by England after discussions with Saints because of his workload due to all the injuries at Saints and him being fatigued.