Warrington Wolves 60 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 24.

IT was more than a little ironic to see magical Michael Monaghan mesmerise Wakefield Trinity Wildcats with his attacking prowess on Sunday.

The Australian scrum half has revealed in recent weeks that he strongly believes Warrington Wolves need to develop a more defence-orientated approach for the future, rather than the attack-minded philosophy introduced by previous boss Paul Cullen.

He may well be proved right in order to achieve consistency in performance but it is to be hoped that his awesome abilities with the ball are never stifled by whatever direction Wolves take.

Wolves produced some of their most scintillating attacking play of the year against a decent Wakefield side that was run ragged, with man of the match Monaghan at the heart of it all.

He had a massive hand in eight of the 11 tries and scored one superb opportunist effort himself as Wolves recorded their highest home league win for five years – quite a turnaround not only from the drubbing in France a fortnight earlier but also from failing to cross the line once in the poor 16-2 defeat against the Wildcats in the Belle Vue snow in April.

Of course, proving the point, Monaghan will no doubt argue that the flair with the ball at the weekend only came on the back of the defensive duty that he has been referring to, as well as Wolves getting on top in the forward battle from early on with power-packed Adrian Morley, Paul Rauhihi and Louis Anderson leading the way.

Wakefield did cross for four converted tries and took a 12-6 lead, showing that Jimmy Lowes’ men still have room for improvement. But Wolves’ work in defence cut down the dangerous visitors’ options time and time again, while bundles of determination prevented at least four more tries at crucial stages.

Monaghan enjoyed particular success down the left, supplying fast and accurate passes for centre Matt King to cross twice, while both Aussies combined brilliantly for the first two of winger Kevin Penny’s hat-trick of tries.

Penny’s second was perhaps the best of the day, with Monaghan opting for the narrow side from a scrum and then King sucking in both Brad Drew and Sean Gleeson before offloading for Penny to hare home from the halfway line.

Another highlight was the work of rotational props Rob Parker and Mike Cooper, who was making his first home Super League appearance since his life-threatening broken leg injury 14 months ago and who was keeping Andy Bracek out of the line-up.

No momentum was lost up front when Parker and Cooper swapped roles with in-form Morley and Rauhihi, with the same to be said for Simon Grix’s spell in place of Louis Anderson.

That speaks volumes for their displays on a day when grit and entertainment shone in equal measures.

Match facts

Warrington Wolves 60 Wakefield Wildcats 24

Wolves: Chris Hicks (8g); Chris Riley (2t), Martin Gleeson (1t), Matt King (2t), Kevin Penny (3t); Lee Briers, Michael Monaghan (1t); Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke (1t); Paul Rauhihi, Louis Anderson, Ben Westwood, Vinnie Anderson. Subs used: Mike Cooper, Rob Parker, Simon Grix (1t), Ben Harrison.

Wildcats: Matt Blaymire (1t); Sean Gleeson, Jason Demetriou (1t), Ryan Atkins, Matt Petersen (1t); Brad Drew, Danny Brough (4g); Oliver Wilkes, Sam Obst, Richard Moore (1t), Brett Ferres, Duncan MacGillivray, Jason Golden. Subs used: Paul Reilly, Ricky Bibey, Dale Ferguson, Danny Sculthorpe.

Referee: Phil Bentham

Scoring: Monaghan’s speedy hands allow Hicks to put King over, 2mins, Hicks converts, 6-0; Brough’s dart paves the way for Petersen to squeeze over, 5mins, Brough converts, 6-6; Obst’s forward-looking pass guides Moore through a huge hole, 9mins, Brough converts, 6-12; Briers dummies and sets Clarke free, 11mins, Hicks converts, 12-12; Briers’ long ball puts Riley in at the corner, 18mins, 16-12; Monaghan steps his way past Moore and Ferres, 26mins, Hicks converts, 22-12; Gleeson and Cooper offload for Grix to cross, 34mins, Hicks converts, 28-12; Brough’s pass to Blaymire beats Briers, 38mins, Brough converts, 28-18; Monaghan goes to the narrow side from a scrum with King offloading for Penny to race home from halfway, 40+mins, Hicks converts, 34-18; Rauhihi’s offload paves the way for Monaghan’s pinpoint pass for King, 48mins, Hicks converts, 40-18; Monaghan fumbles a Brough grubber and Demetriou pounces, 57mins, 40-24; Monaghan supplies the final ball for Gleeson to storm over on the left, 67mins, 44-24; Monaghan’s chip is gathered by King who slips Penny over, 70mins, Hicks converts, 50-24; Louis Anderson combines with Gleeson to hand Riley his second try, 75mins, 54-24; Louis Anderson offloads for Penny to touch down from 90m, 79mins, Hicks converts, 60-24.

Pens: Wolves 5 Wildcats 4

Scrums: Wolves 7 Wildcats 6

Attendance: 9,290

Warrington Guardian top men: Monaghan 3pts, King 2pts, Louis Anderson 1pt.

Interesting note: Highest aggregate score for a Wolves match since the 47-38 defeat of Wigan in 2001.