Steve McNamara says this St Helens side are one of all-time greats

Catalans coach Steve McNamara paid tribute to Grand Final winners St Helens, saying Kristian Woolf’s side are one of the all-time greats.

The Dragons, who won the League Leaders’ Shield earlier this season, fell short to a 12-10 defeat to St Helens in the Super League Grand Final on Saturday night.

Saints have won the double this year and have won the Grand Final for the third year in a row.

Steve McNamara believes this St Helens team are one of the greatest ever.

Match Report: Catalans 10-12 St Helens

Speaking after the game, McNamara said: “Hugely disappointed we just lost a Grand final by two points, we left everything out there.

“Two tries to one, typical we just ended up on the wrong side of it, I could not have asked anymore from my players.”

Early in the game, Sione Mata’utia escaped a red card after he appeared to punch James Maloney in the opening stages of the game.

McNamara said: “It’s a sending-off isn’t it? With that sort of incident they generally go back and have a look at it.

“I think there’s a lot of bits and pieces over the game but its a big call, we’ve seen players sent off in Grand Finals before.

“Ben Garcia sat next to me broke his hand in the game, Sam Tomkins was a doubt, I expected the physio to come into the dressing room and say he wasn’t ready for tonight.

“He had a grade-two medial ligament injury, he was in a lot of pain, we flew him to England, played with injections tonight, which is a danger for him because with the injection it could have shut his leg down.

“We’ve come into our maiden Grand Final and we’ve been beaten by one of the greats in St Helens… you have to say that now after winning three Grand Finals in a row.”