St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham has insisted to TotalRL.com that if his side can do themselves proud on Friday night against Sydney, then nobody will remember the defeat to Salford a week ago.
The Saints’ preparations for the opening match of the 2016 World Club Series were hampered by the 44-10 loss to the Red Devils – in which they also lost in-form centre Mark Percival for three months due to a knee injury.
But Cunningham, who will still be without James Roby for the game on Friday but could welcome back Travis Burns and Dominique Peyroux, says a feelgood effort from his troops at Langtree Park at the weekend will erase the painful memories of that loss at the AJ Bell Stadium.
“There was disappointment from Thursday, especially when we know we could have done a lot better,” he said.
“The game has gone and unless we have a time machine we can’t go back and fix it. We’ve got to look forwards, not backwards. If we do ourselves proud on Friday then everyone will forget what happened last week.”
Cunningham also insisted he has no fears about throwing in youngster Morgan Knowles, who deputised for Roby at hooker last week, in at the deep end against the NRL heavyweights.
“He’s a brilliant kid, a brilliant talent and we’ve yet to find his ideal position,” Cunningham revealed.
“He filled in beautifully at hooker and he did himself proud against Salford. We’re training him up and expecting he’ll be a star for this club and I’ve no doubts about him if he plays.”
