WOLVES boss Tony Smith has praised the response of his players after last week’s defeat to Hull FC.

The Wire could have gone top with victory over the Black and Whites, but the 19-12 defeat at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, coupled with other results, instead saw them drop to fourth.

They face another top-four rival in the shape of Catalans Dragons tomorrow night and Smith says it was initially difficult to pick the players up after last week.

“After going from a fantastic performance against Saints to what was very mediocre performance with the ball was very disappointing,” he said.

“They were flat for the first day or two, you could tell that we all realised there was an opportunity for us there and we didn’t take it because we weren’t good enough on the night.”

However, the club’s head of coaching and rugby says the players were lifted once they had reviewed the game.

“That was the disappointment but after that we came in to review things, look at what went wrong and why as well as what we need to improve on and what we did well,” he said.

“Once we dealt with that, spirits lifted and you get on with the next week, the focus goes onto the next game and that’s what we’ve been doing quite well so far.”