TONY Smith has admitted his frustration at the number of suspensions his Wolves players are picking up.

Stefan Ratchford is the latest Wire star to be banned by the RFL and he will miss Saturday’s game against Catalans Dragons.

The full-back was found guilty of a Grade B trip on Wigan’s Sam Tomkins during Saturday’s Challenge Cup defeat to the Warriors and was handed a one-match suspension.

The likes of Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Tom Lineham and Ashton Sims have all missed games through suspension in 2017 and Smith admits it has had an effect on his side.

Smith also questioned the decision to suspend Ratchford, saying the incident was “more of a check than a trip.”

“Not having a number of players through injury is bad enough without picking up suspensions as well,” he said.

“Hilly has, Ashton has, a few others have and now Stef has. It is frustrating and it has an effect.

“I thought it was more of a check than a trip but it’s been seen in other ways. It’s frustrating as Stef’s had a clean record for about 11 years.

“You see some recurring offenders pick up a week here and there so you’d think his clean record would count for something.

“I’ve seen a couple of incidents this year where people have tried to pull shoulder joints out and only got a week’s ban. That’s where the system fails us I think.”

Ratchford’s absence will see Will Dagger switch to full-back, with Jack Johnson coming in on the right wing.

Johnson, who has just returned from a loan spell at Widnes Vikings, has played four times for The Wire this season.