Depleted St Helens are paying the price for the brutal Easter fixture list - a solution must be found

St Helens have been forced to bring nine newcomers into their 21-man squad for Friday’s game at Castleford Tigers - a third outing in the space of a few days - due to a combination of injuries, suspensions and players needing a break in the toughest sport on the planet.

This alone added more weight to the long-held belief that one of the two Easter fixtures should be rescheduled to another date in the calendar.

Even last weekend Hull KR’s international Ryan Hall asked: “Can we not do away with the Easter schedule as it is now?

“Our bodies are our tools but it feels like they are being disrespected.”

Strong words from the 34-year-old, who started his Super League career at Leeds in 2007, and supported by many officials, players and fans but there are people on the other side of the fence that believe a double header over the Easter weekend is vital to ensuring extra revenue flows into the club coffers.

At the end of the day, this thorny problem will need to be resolved by the powers-that-be but the million pound question is: HOW?

The RFL are fully aware of people’s feelings on this issue and have discussed the matter without coming up with a genuine and workable conclusion.

One way to ease the pressure on clubs would be reducing the Super League to 10 teams but something, I suggest, that would not go down well with the lesser lights of the competition and at the same time is it feasible?

I don’t know. Many RL fans also turn to the letters pages of either the once-a-week Rugby Leaguer and League Express, or their local newspaper, and other media outlets to demand changes but few ever come up with a concrete answer.