BEN Westwood has challenged his teammates to replicate “the best Wolves performance I’ve been involved in” against Castleford Tigers, the team he supported as a boy.

The 34-year-old made his return from pectoral, shoulder and bicep surgery in Saturday’s World Club Series win over Brisbane Broncos, the club’s first competitive victory over an Australian side.

Having come through the game unscathed, Westwood is expected to feature against the Tigers as The Wire look for their first Super League points of 2017.

Westwood says he has fond memories of watching games at Wheldon Road in his youth.

The 25-cap England international also says his teammates “set the standards” against Brisbane and must get close to them against a side he considers to be a rival for a place in the top two of Super League.

“I like to see them doing well, I have done since I was a kid but I’m more of a Warrington fan now,” he said.

“When I was going to watch them, they had the likes of Tawera Nikau, Lee Crooks, Tony Kemp and Graham Steadman playing for them.

“They were the ones I looked up to and admired as a kid, especially Tawera.

“There’s some good teams out there at the moment but attacking-wise, they are as good as anybody.

“They’ve got every chance and we class them as one of our rivals for a top-four or top-two spot.

“We need to go into the game with the same mentality as we did against Brisbane. That’s the standard we need to set ourselves and keep to it through the year.

“It’ll be tough but that’s the challenge for us, if we can get near that we’ll be very hard to beat.

“Thinking back, we’ve had some really good performances over the years but that has to be up there with the best, if not at the top.

“The Challenge Cup Final performance against Leeds in 2010 was pretty special but that was definitely up there.”

Before Saturday’s game, Westwood last took to a rugby field in the Challenge Cup Final defeat to Hull FC in August last year.

He underwent five operations to get him back on the pitch and he admits he was apprehensive about his return.

“I wasn’t sure if I should have been coming back in that game but Tony had faith in me and put me out there,” he said.

“It was scary because I was coming back a little bit early.

“I hadn’t done that much contact, I’d just tried to get it strong but I was desperate to get back out there.

“I was very nervous to be honest, I don’t think I’ve been that nervous for quite a while but once I got that first tackle done I was away.

“I didn’t feel it once in the game, I’ve felt it this week but I guess that was to be expected.

“The lungs need a bit of work but I guess that will come as the games go on so I’m pretty happy overall.”

Westwood, who is now in his 15th full season with The Wire, came off the bench to operate as an impact prop against the Broncos.

The 27-18 victory allowed him to accomplish something he dreamt of as a boy.

“I had three goals when I was a kid; to be a professional rugby player, to play for England and to beat the Aussies,” he said.

“I never got to beat the Australian national side but it was good to go some way towards it!

“It was great to be a part of. The game will go down in the club’s history and will be remembered for a long time.”