Guest Column - Clint Newton: I'm happy to be the centre of attention for tonight's challenge

I'M NOT quite sure whether I'm ready to mark Matt Gidley just yet but I did enjoy playing centre for Rovers.

I don't know how long it will last but it's been something different. If anything, I've seen how easy (injured centre) Jake Webster has it.

If you start your career in the second row, as you get older you normally end up at prop so it was good to shuffle the other way.

I've played centre for 20-minute spells before when I was in Australia but I started and did the full match against Crusaders and it was totally different. The hardest thing about playing in the centre is defensively getting your decison-making and timing right – when to jump in and when to get the sweep runner – but it went well.

I still prefer being in the forwards but might be picked there again tonight at St Helens, who knows?

There'd be plenty of banter if I did go up against Gidley but he's on the other side anyway so it should not be a problem.

I was just happy we worked well together and got our first win after three defeats.

We had Ben Galea back and he makes a big difference to how the side plays in attack while being a very strong defender, too. With me going to centre, we had another tough defender in Jason Netherton coming in on my side so we were pretty comfortable. With Liam Watts, Mick Vella and Joel Clinton all starting, it gave us plenty of height and size and, realistically, Sunday's win did come on the back of our defence. We scored some good tries with real variety but the defence was crucial. If we defend like that we usually win and that's what we need to do tonight.

Saints beat us heavily in Edinburgh three weeks ago but we know we can win at Knowsley Road, especially if last year is anything to go by. We were a little bit stop-start back then and went to St Helens as massive underdogs but turned them over with a very good team performance, really protecting our line well. Facing Saints, you have to do that.

More importantly, whenever you play at Knowsley Road you have to be totally disciplined. It's a short field – 15 metres shorter than most – and so even if you concede a penalty deep in their territory you can soon find yourself right back inside your own 30. With the likes of James Graham, Tony Puletua and Leon Pryce, they've got plenty of go-forward and, more than ever when you go there, you have to concentrate on defence.

People have asked what happened to us before we got back on track against Crusaders but a lot probably under-estimated the impact of a Challenge Cup loss. That's been evident the last couple of weeks. Huddersfield got smashed by Warrington in the cup and then backed up with another defeat against Wigan. For us to get bundled out earlier by Huddersfield was difficult.

We suffered a heavy loss against Bradford and then went to Edinburgh probably real flat and defensively weren't in the game against Saints. You can't afford to do that against anyone.

But, we had a chat as a team, sorted out a few problems and got back working hard for each other which was evident against Crusaders. We need to repeat it this evening.

Interview by Dave Craven.