The eight-try performance from the Saints showed that the acquisition of Antonio and Cyp Ale, who returned to the club this season after a stint with Lithgow, will pay rich dividends in attack.

The pair were heavily involved in a number of raids, while hooker Hudson White continued his impressive form from the pre-season to star out of dummy-half.

In truth, it was hard to find a player who didn’t stand out at some point for the blue and whites, and the likes of lock Andy Adams and reserve Mitch Squires also drew praise from coach Kurt Hancock.

“I’m pretty happy with that. We were a bit sideways at times in attack and need to play a bit straighter and show some extra conviction with what we’re doing, but overall I think it was a pretty good start,” he said.

“All our new guys were very good, our forwards were strong, our bench was good so there’s not too much to complain about. 

“We didn’t really get tested a lot in defence. Lithgow will get better from here. They are only a young side and have some good players to come back like Chris Rhodes and Corey Willmott.”

The Saints opened their account 12 minutes into the game as Antonio Ale found some space close to the Lithgow line.

Jono Van Veen was held up over the Pat’s line soon after and that was as close as the visitors would get to scoring in the first half-hour.

Pat’s added to their lead through Nathan Lawrence after Ale had earned his team a line drop-out, and the alarm bells were soon ringing for Workies. 

A short restart didn’t come off, and from good field position Pat’s scored their third try thanks to Nick Millar.

Against the run of play and trailing 16-0, Workies broke their duck as a pinpoint Van Veen kick found winger Josh Jones, but it was cancelled out on half-time as Chris de Young sent Travis Winanara over.

The Saints led 22-4 at the break, and with Antonio and Cyp Ale looking dangerous every time the ball went left, along with White, who was busy around the ruck, a blow-out was on the cards.

Workies tried the short restart again to open the second half and this time it worked and a few plays later they scored through Ben Glasson to breathe life back into the contest at 22-10.

When Adam Morton inexplicably dropped the ball having sprinted 55 metres into open space, the signs were starting to get a bit worrying for Pat’s, but an opportunistic Derryn Clayton try thanks to a succession of offloads settled things down.

A second try to Lawrence probably put the result beyond doubt, though Glasson picked up another himself to give Lithgow some heart. 

But at 34-14, time was becoming a factor, and Morton iced the game 12 minutes from full-time.

Morton made it a double soon after, while Pat’s finished the game a man down with Brady Cheshire sin-binned for back-chat.

The Saints will head to Cowra this Saturday to play the Magpies.

ST PAT’S 42 (Adam Morton 2, Nathan Lawrence 2, Antonio Ale, Nick Millar, Derryn Clayton, Travis Winanara tries; Tony Clevin 5 goals) defeated LITHGOW WORKIES 14 (Ben Glasson 2, Josh Jones tries; Jono Van Veen goal)