TOA'S NEW DEAL (From Warrington Guardian)

TOA'S NEW DEAL

WARRINGTON Wolves have secured the services of their form centre Toa Kohe-love until the end of the 2001 season.

Auckland Warriors and a host of Super League clubs were hot on the heels of the New Zealand ace but he chose on Wednesday to commit his immediate future to Wilderspool.

Coach Darryl Van de Velde said the 22-year-old is a great asset to the club long term.

He added: "Toa's playing great football but the best football is still ahead of him and I think he will go on to gain international honours.

"He's an exceptional young talent who has to develop and build from this and his two more years at Warrington gives him the base to work from."

Kohe-Love, who joined Warrington from Wellington in 1996, has this year had his best start to a campaign yet and has scored eight tries from 11 appearances. His beautiful side-steps, lightning speed and unselfish centre play has been thrilling the Wolves fans and his power-packed defence has left opponents shuddering.

Kohe-Love's new deal comes at an exciting period for the Wolves, who recorded their highest home Super League win over Sheffield Eagles on Monday, 40-4. It was the widest margin of victory at home in the league since Warrington beat London Broncos 46-6 on August 20, 1995.

It was Warrington's sixth win from eight outings and pushed them up to third place in the Super League table.

On Sunday Warrington will be hoping to make it a magnificent seven wins when they travel to Alan Hunte's former club Hull Sharks, kick-off 3.15pm.

Second rower Steve McCurrie will miss the game due to a groin injury which has plagued the start of his 1999 campaign. The Cumbrian will be seeing a specialist today, Friday.

It will be a big game for Wolves prop forward Danny Nutley, making his return from injury.

The former South Queensland front rower has not played since he injured his shoulder in the defeat at Wigan on April 11, missing the Wolves' last three matches.

For Nutley it will be 'make or break' as he replaces Andy Leathem up front. He will only know if his shoulder has fully recovered by taking to the field and giving it a full impact workout. The consequence of a repeat injury is highly likely to be a reconstruction operation which would put the workhorse out of action for the rest of the season.

Coach Darryl Van de Velde says: "Danny's worked really hard at rehabilitation and the shoulder's stable so hopefully he will be okay. He probably could have played last week but we just wanted to give it another week and give it every chance."

Mark Hilton is in a similar scenario to Nutley with his shoulder problem but he will not be making a comeback until the Leeds game on May 16.

Strike

Van de Velde believes the pack battle at Hull, who won their first game of the season at Wakefield on Monday, will be a crucial area.

He said: "Hull have some of their injured players back in action, including props Karl Harrison and Steve Craven who are big guys.

"We've got to go there to win all the battles on the field, make sure we take them on up front where they have the size. We've got the strike power to be unleashed if we can dominate their pack.

"We're going to have to be on our mettle though. I'm also conscious of the fact that they have not had much luck in previous games they have lost. They have not been beaten by big scores and the only hammering was the opening game defeat at Wigan."

For Leathem, who will be on the bench after breaking his nose against Sheffield, it will be his last game on loan from St. Helens. Van de Velde has hinted at considering attempting to extend the loan.

Mark Forster, who needed stitches to a cut at the back of his head on Monday, will also be fit to play.

Ian Knott or Dean Busby are expected to replace McCurrie in the starting line-up and Jon Roper, who has suffered no after-effects from his return from hamstring trouble, is expected to be a substitute.

Wolves: Lee Penny; Jason Roach, Toa Kohe-Love, Alan Hunte, Mark Forster; Scott Wilson, Lee Briers; Gary Chambers, Danny Farrar, Danny Nutley, Simon Gillies, Ian Knott/Dean Busby, Mike Wainwright.

Tomorrow, Saturday, Warrington under 21s Alliance team play Hull at Wilderspool, kick-off 2.30pm.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.