Warrington Wolves 21-man squad: Matty Ashton, Jordy Crowther, Ben Currie, Josh Drinkwater, Gil Dudson, Matt Dufty, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, James Harrison, Leon Hayes, Adam Holroyd, Toby King, Arron Lindop, Zane Musgrove, Joe Philbin, Sam Powell, Stefan Ratchford, Josh Thewlis, Paul Vaughan, Danny Walker, George Williams, Connor Wrench.

I like the fact that Lindop is in there. And that we haven’t loaned out Hayes yet on DR. Makes me think that Burgess hasn’t yet decided that Drinkwater is his preferred choice. I guess he wants to see how the first few games go.

No Dwyer

Powell was always going to be before him in the pecking order.

I'm guessing it will be...

Dufty
Thewlis
King
Wrench
Ashton
Williams
Drinkwater
Vaughan
Walker
Musgrove
Currie
Fitzgibbon
Crowther

Philbin
Harrison
Dudson
Powell

*Based on Thewlis being fit and Ratchford not.

Do we look that bad or is it preseason optimism?

Yeah i'd proberbly say the same on the Squad


Skipping Catalans and looking at Hull next week, looks like they'll be missing Franklin Pele, Ligi Sao and potentially Ese'ese. That's a massively weakened pack we'll be facing, and with Houghton, Walker and Joe cator picking up injuries their a battered squad. Worst start they could have possibly have.

We possibly have the biggest injury list of teams going into this season, but the squad doesn't look that bad. Super league isn't blessed with massive talent depth these days. Hopefully when everyone is fit and we start to (fingers crossed) click a bit, we'll steadily build intensity as we go. The big thing is not getting pasted in the early rounds and losing confidence.

After watching Hull last night, I can't see anyway they are making the top 6. Cas, London and Salford will be very unlikely to make it also(no offence to those teams). Huddersfield I'm not sure on yet. This should be the easiest season ever to get into the top 6. Let's just hope burgess can get us peaking at the right time and we get our injuries out of the way early on.

Exactly how I feel... we only need to make 6th this year, but have a better showing in the playoffs.

I agree about Cas, London, Salford and Hull FC. I'm not convinced with Hudds as Watson seems to get the best out of non-star players, rather than the ones he's recruited. Leeds is the hardest one to call... With the creativity they now have, this should be the season where we see the 'genius' of Rohan Smith that the pundits have been pushing on us. If they are bang average again, then I think he'll be gone. Leeds could be 3rd or 10th it's that hard to judge.

I think HKR and Leigh will be the teams we are fighting for 5th/6th place.

Assuming Wigan, Saints & Catalan are certs, we still have Leigh, Hull KR, Leeds & I’d throw Hudds in there too. I don’t think it will be easy…

I see all the Sky team had Leigh out of the top 6 & Leeds in. That should be a good motivator for us.

Hayes being around puts pressure on Drinkwater to perform. Plus if the plan is to release Drinkwater at the end of the season we can expect to see Hayes getting games.

Nothing like a bit of competition to bring the best out of journeymen.

Yes, I was a bit surprised that at least one of them didn't say Wire to be the team to miss out. Instead, they were talking us up as being likely top 4. I think the whole 'Burgess aura' thing has got them a bit spooked.

I wouldn't have catalans as certs. With the players they have lost I think they could struggle to make the 6. I'm expecting us, Hull kr and leigh to finish above them.

Appears for a Q&A with Toby King on social media that Josh Thewlis hasn’t traveled, he and his partner have had a baby. Would expect Wrench to move to the wing if it is true.

That probably means that Ratchford will be playing centre then, as I don`t expect Lindop to play 1st team centre just yet.

Agreed (assuming Stef is fully fit). I'm all for giving young players their chance, and Lindop may well feature at some point this season, but Catalans away would be a tough gig for a debut.

Lindop could well be in at centre if ratch and thewlis are unfit. I'm looking forward to seeing how we go, I expect we will be a bit NRL to be honest. Make ground with 1 up carries early in the tackle count and play a bit more expansive when we get in the opposition half. We will need to be a lot more resilient than we have been in recent years for that to work.

I don't think we will be too pretty to watch, but so long as its effective I don't really care after the last few seasons we've endured.

We probably need a few ugly wins under our belt before we worry about “points for style”!

Totally agree, I think we need to look like a really solid defensive unit, we do have some punch when we get further upfield but need to respect possession and territory. I will be happy to see an aggressive defensive unit today with good line speed, playing the game in the right areas of the pitch.

I'm looking forward to it.

Lindops starting

Very brave team selection by Burgess.

Hope the kid plays well.

So not picking on reputation then!

Hayes for next week v. Hull?