TONY Smith says the Wolves squad are sticking together as they look to end their poor form against Wigan Warriors tonight, Thursday, kick off 8pm.

The Wire welcome their neighbours to The Halliwell Jones Stadium having made their worst start to a Super League season since 2009.

Despite being the only team yet to pick up a point in 2017, Smith says there has been no “finger-pointing” in the Wolves dressing room.

The club’s head of coaching and rugby says his players are handling their slow start “like grown-ups” and is adamant their form will improve.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of effort, I cannot accuse anybody in our squad of that. The boys are putting it in and they are frustrated as well,” he said.

“Our boys will come good, the good thing about our club is that we do stick together.

“We go through the tougher times really well rather than getting into the blame game and pointing fingers.

“We handle things like grown-ups and we get on with things. We’re not happy that we’re sitting at the foot of the table at the moment but I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be there at the end of the season.

“Another part of our frustration is that we performed so well against Brisbane but we’ve only shown bits of that during the other games.

“There was maybe an expectation that we’d keep playing like that all the way through. Unfortunately, sport is more brutal than that and it doesn’t quite happen that way.”

Smith is likely to bring Matty Russell back into the team on the wing, providing he passes a fitness test on the back injury that kept him out of Saturday’s 24-14 defeat to Salford Red Devils.

Skipper Chris Hill and centre Toby King are nearing a return to action from shoulder and hamstring injuries respectively, but Smith says there was no temptation to pick his captain for the clash with Shaun Wane’s side.

“Hilly will probably be back for the Leigh game, as will Toby at a push,” he said.

“Both of them are getting close but there’s certain criteria they have to meet before they are cleared.

“Just because we need a win, we’re not going to throw somebody back in before their time.

“It’s a bit more scientific than that these days but we’re looking forward to getting some of those bodies back.”