FOR the first time in months, I was able to enjoy an entire Warrington Wolves match on Sunday. At its heart, a precocious young winger.

Kevin Penny scored an enthralling hat-trick as Wolves completed a 60-24 home hammering of Wakefield.

Yet here are some of the headlines accompanying the Monday morning match reports.

There was ’Stop showing off, coach tells Penny after hat-trick’ and ‘Lowes blow jolts Penny’.

Most interestingly, ‘Showboating Penny takes the shine off Warrington’s win.’ All because Penny slowed down on the way to the try line to complete his hat-trick and cheekily skipped in the air as Wakefield’s Paul Reilly chased in vain.

I really don’t recall that incident ‘taking the shine off’ what was a fabulous victory. There was certainly no sign of Wolves fans recoiling in horror at Penny’s impudence.

This is a 20-year-old lad who has endured an unexpectedly tough second season – in and out of the side, criticised by some Wolves fans and occasionally taunted by opposition fans – enjoying the fact that he was back to his best.

He is an entertainer and a showman – a characteristic Andrew Johns hailed last year as an attribute rather than a weakness.

“He had all the old ladies screaming, so that’s half the battle,” joked Joey after watching Penny in action against Wigan.

Sport needs characters and Wolves need exciting players like Kevin Penny. We shouldn’t try to stamp that personality out.

Maybe his way of entertaining the crowd on this occasion was a little ill-advised. Wakefield may be keen to reinforce that point next time the two sides meet.

But Penny owes Wakefield no respect.

Wakefield, let us not forget, were the club that opted not to sack Tevita Leo-Latu after the New Zealander was found guilty of directing a racial remark towards Penny during the corresponding fixture last year.

Penny did not react then and I am sure the Leo-Latu incident was not in his mind on Sunday.

From the few times I have met him, Penny strikes me as a decent enough role model for Warrington’s youngsters. He has prodigious talent yet seems to have remained humble and friendly.

If he gets a little over-excited on the field every now and then, so be it. He is not hurting anyone.

In fairness to Jimmy Lowes, he was asked a direct question at the post-match Press conference and he answered it. His opinion was rational and delivered fairly.

“I’m not a big fan of that,” said Lowes about the skip. “That’s part of Kev’s learning.”

Lowes knows Penny far better than I do. Maybe he feels his winger will respond far better to the stick than the carrot.

But, given the nature of Sunday’s match, the Monday morning headlines were a real shame.

It is entirely feasible that the incident would have received less attention had Reilly actually caught Penny, thus taking the hat-trick hero turned villain element out of it.

We have seen Britain’s finest emerging talents, Andy Murray and Lewis Hamilton, constantly weighed down by adverse and unreasonable coverage in recent times.

I would hate to see the same happen to Warrington’s own gem.