ST HELENS' three tries in six minutes at the start of the second half of Friday's win against Warrington have generated much discussion.

All three tries were scored on Warrington's left, where forward Andy Bracek was partnering Kevin Penny following the departure of Matt King due to injury.

Paul Cullen successfully stemmed further scores on that side by switching loose forward Vinnie Anderson to the centre position.

It is a fair point for fans to ask why the inexperienced combination was left together until after three match-turning tries had been scored.

Cullen still changed things around in time for Wolves to remain in the hunt - as they did until the final play of the game - but penalties that Saints mainly earned on Wolves' right-hand side cost them victory.

The way I see it Cullen's hands were tied to some extent after losing two backs, Chris Bridge and Matt King, to injury early in the game.

It is never a good idea to reshuffle a side too many times during a game as it is disruptive to rhythm and continuity.

But early changes, including switching Chris Hicks to full back, were enforced.

So if Bracek had gone into the pack, as I have heard some fans suggest, that would have brought about an extra positional switch with Vinnie Anderson moving to centre.

And who is to say that Wolves would not have been weakened down the middle - Saints' supposed strength - if that option had been taken, especially as Vinnie is one of Wolves' strongest defenders.

Keeping the disruption to a minimum probably ruled out any thoughts of switching the wingers around, too, because that would have been two more positional changes.

Furthermore, Wolves would not have been best-placed pitting Penny against beefy Kiwi Francis Meli, who gave Wolves' flyer such a hard time last season with his strength advantage. Saints would simply have switched their point of attack to the other flank.

The other factor is that without the injuries, both Johnson and Bracek would have been used as fresh forwards to give some hard-working packmen a deserved rest.

So that initial plan had to change and allowances had to be made to give forwards longer time on the field than might be the norm.

Cullen has said that he wanted to keep Vinnie Anderson in the middle for as long as possible, likely to be for reasons I've suggested.

I think his judgement was based on sound coaching principles, with all points considered in difficult circumstances. To me, that is the right way to make calls.

Cullen's judgement call had no part to play in the build-up to the second try of the three match-turners, with Westwood needlessly conceding a penalty and Saints stand off Leon Pryce luckily regaining possession that he had initially lost.

And if Keiron Cunningham's forward pass by several feet had been spotted by referee Richard Silverwood then the third try would not have been scored either.