Warrington Wolves vs Widnes Vikings, pre-season talking points

Warrington Wolves play their first fixture of 2024 tomorrow 118 days after their 2023 campaign ended with a play-off defeat at St Helens.

The first of two pre-season friendlies sees them take on Widnes Vikings in what will be new head coach Sam Burgess' first official match in charge.

Here, we've put together a list of five key talking points ahead of Friday's game at The Halliwell Jones Stadium...

Burgess’ first public test

It’s been a long old wait but finally, we get a chance to see the fruits of Wire’s pre-season labour on Friday.

Of course, we will get a better idea of how things are looking when front-line first-teamers get a run-out in Joe Philbin’s Testimonial match against Leigh Leopards, but early signs of what structures will be like on and off the ball under Sam Burgess will surely be visible.

For Burgess himself, he gets his long-anticipated first chance to coach his players in a match situation to officially get his coaching tenure underway in earnest.

There are plenty who are still to be won over by his appointment and while doing so could take much longer, this will be the first chance to show what they have been working on.

Sam Burgess is about to take charge of Warrington Wolves for the first time (Image: Joe Richardson)

New faces keen to shine

Three of Warrington’s new signings for 2024 will be in the starting side on Friday including the most recent addition in former Wigan youngster Max Wood.

There will certainly be intrigue aplenty about him, as there will with Papua New Guinea international Rodrick Tai.

The centre stocks are certainly blessed with a little more depth this year and the new man has the likes of Toby King, Stefan Ratchford and Connor Wrench to compete with, but he gets the first crack at showing what he can do.

Likewise Brad Dwyer – Wire fans know all about his capabilities but with Sam Powell having also been signed in the hooking position, he will no doubt be keen to take the chance to press his claims.

Fans will get their first glimpse of PNG international Rodrick Tai in a Wire shirt on Friday (Image: Joe Richardson)

An indication of a pecking order?

We are likely to see something closer to what Burgess considers his strongest side in Joe Philbin’s Testimonial next week – so can we expect any of the players who feature on Friday to do so in Round One?

The case can be made for plenty of them – it would, for example, be quite a surprise if Josh Thewlis did not feature in the first-choice side – but this selection could be seen as an indicator of Burgess’ thinking.

That could be said for the likes of Leon Hayes, whom many fans would like to see paired with George Williams this season but he looks set to start the year in reserve behind Josh Drinkwater.

Still, the side for the lower-profile pre-season friendly is stronger this year than it has been previously, so there still looks to be time and opportunity for players to force their way into Burgess’ plans for Perpignan.

Leon Hayes starts Friday's match in the halves (Image: Mike Boden)

The future is bright, the future is Thewlis?

Once again, Josh Thewlis looks set to use this fixture to show what he can do in his natural position.

The majority of his game time in 2024 appears like to come on the wing again and it is a position he improved significantly in last year, with his displays earning him the Super League Young Player of the Year award.

However, full-back remains his preferred position and that is where he will start against Widnes.

And with Matt Dufty out of contract at the end of this year, Thewlis will no doubt be keen to affirm that he is the future of Warrington’s number one jersey.

He also gets another chance to play alongside younger brother Jake, who starts on the wing off the back of a 2023 season which saw him named as the reserve team’s player of the year.

Josh Thewlis gets another chance to show what he can do in his preferred position of full-back (Image: Lewis Tate)

Can Lindop show his prodigious talent?

You do not see many 17-year-olds handed long-term first-team deals before having made their senior debut, but that is exactly what has happened to Arron Lindop.

It is a demonstration of the excitement within the club about the Warringtonian centre, who was prolific in his first season at academy level in 2023.

Frequent followers of the under 18s and reserve teams will know all about Lindop’s ability having scored 16 tries in 13 appearances across both sides last year.

Now, he gets the chance to perform on the biggest stage of his young career to date and show supporters what the fuss is all about.

Arron Lindop gets a chance to shine against Widnes (Image: Joe Richardson)