WOLVES’ clash with Wakefield is now far more an important game than anyone could have predicted at the start of the season.

It is a must-win match for a camp that is rapidly losing the confidence of supporters left frustrated by both performances and results.

As the lowest scorers in Super League, the lack of ability to crack open defences has been startling and to have slipped from fourth to ninth over Easter is deflating.

It’s a far cry from 2011 when Wolves were playing sensational football, breaking scoring records and finishing top of the ladder.

As poorly as they have been playing though, a couple of alternative decisions in attack or defence could have changed the outcomes of games. But the ‘smartness’ of a leader or general to take a grip of things has been missing.

When Wolves were learning to cope without Lee Briers and Brett Hodgson in 2014, they had Mick Monaghan to run the show. Chris Bridge put his hand up too.

Nobody is doing that for Warrington this season. And without that in their armoury to bring the best out of the team, the fear factor for opponents has gone.

At one time teams arrived at The Halliwell Jones Stadium beaten before putting on their boots. Not any more.

But you can’t blame half backs if the team gets in the opposition 20-metre zone and butter-finger forwards fumble on three occasions, as against Castleford.

And you can’t point the finger at wingers for being beaten on the outside by long passes or kicks if they are covering teammates’ failings on the inside, as against Widnes.

The issues are across the board and the lack of confidence is the killer.

You can see doubt in players’ actions. I believe instability – borne out of lots of injuries, lots of comings and goings in the backroom, and lots of lost experience in the space of 18 months – has not helped to find solutions when things haven’t gone to plan.

With half a dozen or more of Smith’s 27-man squad sidelined with injury regularly this year, players badly out of form have kept shirts.

Amid all of that, the returning pressure of relegation this year has set alarm bells ringing among fans None of this will worry Wakefield, who, after seven losses – and the last four having conceded 40-plus points -–would love nothing more than to get one over their old boss Richard Agar.

With trips to Wigan and Leeds looming over the next fortnight, let’s hope the hard work in training this week pays off.