1. Never write off the Saints! And we had another one of those last Friday against Salford.

It looked too easy at 16-0 and then we saw the Salford side that had won at Warrington and that had beaten Catalans 46-0 in Perpignan roll into action, with halves Robert Lui and Jackson Hastings calling the shots.

Saints looked out of it, but the fans kept the faith. There have been times over the years where the silence of the crowd - when games have been going away - can weigh heavily on the players. But not for the first time this year the vocal support has really lifted when needed. The players responded - with Alex Walmsley's second stint being a real momentum turner.

2. How good is Big Al? Last year, with Luke Thompson standing up so effectively to fill the void it was easy to overlook what an important player Walmsley is. This year he has been immense, particularly stepping it up another notch in the absence of Thompson.

Al is is getting good back-up from Matty Lees – but with Tommo and LMS both due to return in a fortnight the Saints pack will be firing at full strength again.

3. James Bentley will have been delighted to have grabbed Saints' winner. The former Championship Young Player of the Year has patiently bided his time at Saints and it is pleasing to see him get a reward. He is not the biggest of second row men but he’s definitely got something. The other week when he came on at dummy half he showed a real effervescence and keenness to put himself about.

4. There were a few social media moans after the game (from outside St Helens) about calls not going Salford’s way – but personally I saw nothing wrong with Bentley’s try. But we can go through the video and clock the non ‘knock on’ prior to the scrum that led to Robert Lui’s try. Or the play where Lachlan Coote is tackled on the touchline and then forced into touch when he sought to regain his feet. I am sure there are some 50/50s the other way too. These things happen – the officials are not infallible even if it did look a bit daft checking for the grounding on Adam Swift’s no try.

5. Warrington’s defeat against Hull, after the Wolves’ social media department had written the motivational team talk for Lee Radford, means Saints now have a six-point cushion and a decent for and against at the Super League summit.

Finish top this year is different to the previous years under the Super 8s - and that benefits the leaders, hopefully Saints, who will have two bites at the cherry to get to Old Trafford.

Despite that we have some serial worriers out there. If you want something to worry about then there are two schools of thought.

In 2017, when Saints were seemingly a lost cause, their pick-up after the arrival of Justin Holbrook saw them almost needing to win every week to qualify for the semis. No rest for players with niggles, all full steam ahead each week.

They were battle hardened and had there not been that daft penalty in the semi at Cas, they would have won the Grand Final that year.

Saints are in a far better position now, but we have some fans having sleepless nights now because that cushion could mean that the intensity won’t be there every week for Saints and that could be costly when it has to be cranked up.

These things have a way of working themselves out – and even the class of 2006 lost a couple of games in a row in June.

If and when that happens this year, nobody will be worrying about games lacking intensity – but there will be a few who will no doubt wondering whether it has all fallen apart.

Let’s not worry, take each game as they come and see what has to be done come September.

6. And on to Magic - and at an Anfield venue Saints have not played at since they tackled Warrington there in 1998. Some fans clearly don't like the idea of the event being so close to the heartlands that it does away with the weekend away aspect. Others don't like the fact that it is so far away from the city - like Etihad and Murrayfield.

But once it was obvious that this school of thought was dominating thinking among a lot of fans, something greater needed to be done by the organisers to sell it rather than trade on the iconic nature of the venue itself.

The players are really excited at the prospect of playing there - but that has not yet translated to the fans.

There is time yet....and hopefully there is a big surge in day tickets, particularly from Saints, but lessons have to be learned from staging and then promoting these big events.