RETURNING full-back Stefan Ratchford believes Wolves’ problems this season have stemmed from being “anxious and panicky” with the ball.

The Wire have lost their first five Super League games this season while the former Salford man has been forced to watch from the sidelines.

He will return for the trip to St Helens tomorrow, Friday, and says his teammates need to relax if things start going against them at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

“If we’re not scoring points straight away, we’re trying to force the ball when we don’t need to,” he said.

“With the way things have gone, we’re anxious and panicky on the field.

“We know we can defend well and let the plays unfold naturally. If we do that we will put ourselves in a much better position.

“At the moment, because we’re finding ourselves behind early on, we’re trying to come up with miracle plays and feel like we have to score straight away to get ourselves back on track.

“We need to be more patient rather than trying to score from miraculous plays.”

Losing to Saints would make this Warrington’s worst ever start to a league campaign and put further distance between them and Super League’s leading pack.

While many observers have already written off The Wire’s chances of a top-four finish, Ratchford says there is no such pessimism in the dressing room.

The 28-year-old also says it may be time for Wolves to “fly under the radar” and slowly rebuild their season.

“The good thing for me looking in is that you expect people to have their heads down and agonising over how we’re going to get out of this, but there’s been none of that,” he said.

“We’re all really disappointed, we’d be upset if we lost five games in the season as a whole, never mind five games right at the start.

“We are frustrated but, on the other hand, we know what a talented squad we have and what we’re capable of when we get it right.

“I don’t think we need to reassess our goals after five rounds, but it is crucial we start picking up wins quickly and put a run together.

“If we can just fly under the radar a bit and go about our business quietly, we can get ourselves back up there.

“All the focus at the moment is on Castleford, Wigan and the rest of the teams at the top. We still want to be up there and pushing for the higher end.

“We can’t look too far ahead, all we have to focus on is getting these first couple of wins to get some confidence back.”

When he takes to the field,, Ratchford will be the latest Wolves player to return from long-term injury after skipper Chris Hill made his comeback at Leigh on Thursday.

After watching his teammates struggle, the full-back says he naturally thought about what he might have done had he been in the side.

“When the lads are winning, you’re not as anxious watching because they are picking up the points,” he said.

“We’re not getting the results at the moment and you can’t help but think about the things you may have done differently.

“We’ve had a big week in training and it’s the perfect time to show that on Friday.”