THERE will be more games like this.

On plenty of occasions as the season goes on, Warrington Wolves will be below-par and struggle to get into a rhythm, thereby putting themselves onto the back foot.

That happens to every team at some point – it is wholly unrealistic to expect the best every single week – but the difference between the elite and the also-rans is the ability to emerge from these matches victorious.

It won’t always be the case, but the fact The Wire came out of this game with the all-important two points will do so much for them moving forward.

If anything, it will do more for them than any 40-point stroll – everyone wants to see their side pile up the points, but let us consider how much the knowledge that the person sitting next to them will go to the deepest depths to drag them out of trouble will boost those inside the dressing room.

For so long, this looked like it just wasn’t going to be Wire’s day following a largely flat display – perhaps their Challenge Cup exertions up the road at St Helens had taken more out of the tank than we realised – but they found something from somewhere.

That is what top teams do and while it remains way too early to judge for certain, there’s a growing body of evidence that Warrington Wolves’ class of 2024 can be labelled as such.

Relief was the overwhelming emotion on the hooter, while Leigh will wonder quite how they contrived to lose a match they largely commanded.

They too can take plenty out of what was an absorbing contest – the raw materials of a starting middle that will challenge any team in Super League and classy ball movement are there, so when key men John Asiata and Edwin Ipape return, they will no doubt start to climb the table.

For Wire, they have a lot to thank their back-rowers for – they do not always get their flowers, but Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Matty Nicholson’s contributions proved pivotal.

That extends outside of the try each they scored, too – Nicholson’s 53-tackle defensive shift makes the fact he found the energy to support Josh Thewlis for the winning try even more impressive, while Fitzgibbon’s highlight-reel hit on Umyla Hanley livened the crowd and was a key momentum-switcher as the game approached the final quarter.

The Australian was at the heart of efforts to rouse those on the pitch and in the stands and is looking like a better piece of recruitment by the week. Not much went right for Daryl Powell in this part of the world, but Fitzgibbon’s signing looks like quite the parting gift.

Warrington will need to learn lessons aplenty from this game, but their refusal to merely write this off as a bad day at the office is cause for great encouragement.