PLAYING home games on Saturdays for the rest of the season will give Warrington Wolves the best chance of achieving their next goal – staying in Super League for 2018.

After a disappointing season on the pitch, the Wire start the Middle Eights knowing survival is at stake rather than a shot at Grand Final glory.

And club chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick says having all home games on a Saturday gives the players the best chance to turn around their year and end on a high.

He added: “Our primary objective during these Middle Eights is to ensure Super League status and I believe playing on a Saturday gives us the best chance.

“It means we have mainly seven-day turnarounds for every game. So players get the longer rest between games and the best preparation for the following week’s game.

Warrington Guardian:

“We also looked at other kick-off times, but with Sky games being at 3.15pm, even if later games (such as Leigh and Hull KR) are moved for TV it won’t mean too much disruption for supporters.”

The issue was raised at the first fan forum of 2017 last week and they will now take place every few weeks.

“It is really important we engage with our supporters and it is something I should have done earlier,” said Fitzpatrick.

“What we want to do is give supporters an insight and explain what is going on and our plans for the organisation.

“The session seemed to go well. It was very open and honest.

“We discussed many things; our performance, obviously, the fixtures for the Qualifiers, our memberships. We had a healthy and lively debate.”

Warrington are outside the Super Eights for the first time since the change of format three years ago.

It raises the prospect of a fight to keep Super League status. A sharp fall for a side who reached both the Grand Final and Challenge Cup Final in 2016.

“The reality is our performances over 23 rounds have not been good enough. It is as simple as that,” he added.

“We expect to be a consistently top four club. We should be challenging at the other end of the table.

“We are going with relative form but it is not going to be easy and we have two difficult fixtures to start with (Wire take on Catalans at home this Saturday).

“I think a number of clubs will see us as a scalp and they will want to knock us out.

“We cannot underestimate any team.”