JOEL Monaghan feels Warrington Wolves needed to play ‘smarter’ if they were to beat St George Illawarra Dragons last night.

Wolves were beaten 12-18 at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in the World Club Series opener, but found themselves competing with varying interpretations of the rules from what they are used to in Super League.

The skipper says he spoke to referee Ben Thaler at the break, but admitted his side needed to find another way to overcome the Dragons.

“We had a chat on the way out at half time, and I think I said ‘we only had one penalty in the first half, both teams, are we that squeaky clean?’,” explained Monaghan.

“In saying that, we had to see that and change our game plan accordingly to what he’s letting people get away with.

“There were parts of that game where we got it over them and probably just weren’t smart enough. We went set for set with them and I thought we’d get one over on them.

“But, as Tony said, we didn’t build a game that second half. If we want to do well this year, we need to take a bit out of this game and try and fix that.”

The winger was also frustrated he was unable to hold onto a ball into the corner late on, fumbling as he attempted to gather and cross the line.

“I was disappointed with that,” he added. “I should’ve scored, I’ve scored a hundred of them. A kick from the sideline to draw it up, disappointing obviously.”