Wood's proud moment (From Warrington Guardian)

Milestone beckons for Warrington Wolves prop Paul Wood

12:00pm Friday 22nd February 2013 in Wolves news By Mike Parsons

PAUL Wood is on the verge of a major milestone.

Selection at Hull on Saturday would be his 300th game for Warrington Wolves.

The prop forward would become only the second player to achieve the feat for the club in the Super League era.

His good pal Lee Briers leads the way with 408 appearances.

“It’s a lot of games and hopefully I’ll get my 300 at Hull,” said Wood, who made his first Wolves appearance of Super League XVIII in the 24-16 win against Catalan Dragons.

“To get 300 games in the Super League era is good, but to get it with one club I think is a really good achievement. It’ll be a proud moment.

“In truth, it’s just another game and hopefully there’s plenty more left in me.

“But it does show coaches have had faith in me and I’ve done what they’ve asked of me.

“I don’t think there’s any secret formula. It’s a case of working hard and following instructions. If you can do that, it’s pretty simple really.

“The hardest part I’ve found is when you’ve tried hard and your form’s not great – that’s the challenging part and every player goes through it.”

The 31-year-old former Great Britain international joined the club under Darryl Van de Velde’s watch in 1999, making this his 15th year in primrose and blue.

His first-team debut came off the bench in a 26-18 win at Wakefield on September 10, 2000, although he had to wait until July the following year for his first start in a 34-22 home win against Halifax.

Wood is set to become the 26th player in the club’s history to reach the 300-game mark, with 321 more to go to catch runaway leader Brian Bevan on 620.

However, the former Orrell St James amateur would be the first to achieve the milestone having played more games as a substitute than in the starting 13.

In his 299 games so far, of which 172 have been off the bench, Wood has scored 47 tries – ironically the first of which was scored in a 32-16 loss away to Hull on May 27, 2001.