TONY Smith is pleased to see him his team back on track, hopefully to prove doubters wrong and please the supporters, but he is concerned with this season’s fixture scheduling.

He feels the capabilities of his side were on show against Wakefield in Saturday’s 80-0 win, one that ended a four-match losing streak albeit against injury ravaged opposition sitting bottom of the table Things will be different when Wolves travel for one of their most intense fixtures of the season at Wigan on Thursday, kick off 8pm.

Smith said: “It is totally a different opposition that we’re going to be fronting up to in only a few days’ time.

“We understand that but if we can play with some of the nous, smarts and energy that we showed against Wakefield then we can get in there and compete.

“I think it showed everybody that we’re a team that is capable.

“We may well have been a little bit off our form in recent times but we’re a team that when they put it together is going to cause some problems for a lot of other teams this season without doubt.

“We’ve had a lot of faith in that. I know we’ve had a little bit of a rough ride in the last four games and I’d just like to thank all our support for sticking with us through all that and hopefully we’ve repaid them a little bit and put some smiles on faces.”

Smith said the schedulers, that have handed Wolves a fourth game in 15 days against Wigan on Thursday, have made things difficult for the sport's players in attempting to put right any areas of their game that has been below-par this season.

But it hasn’t been for the want of trying at the Padgate training ground.

“What I’ve seen is a team that even when things haven’t been going well works harder and harder and gets more determined,” said Smith, Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby.

“It’s been hard to do that with our short turnarounds.

“The make-up of the season means that the short turnarounds are not long enough to fix up and prepare.

“It’s a big concern for all the players and coaches. I know it’s not thought about when we do our draws and all that sort of stuff – how it effects teams and the quality of rugby league.

“It’s had a big effect, including on us. We haven’t had enough time to turn around between games on many occasions so far this year.

“And it keeps rolling. However, we’ve got a bit of a break after the Wigan game where we can go away and fix some stuff up.

“Until then it’s just been a case of get your bodies on board and get back out there to do the best you can.

“And I think that’s showing in some of the rugby league that all the teams are playing.

“Sometimes we need to manage that better and put more thought into the sort of time frames that players need to recover from games – it’s a different game nowadays.”

With matches taking place on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to fit nin with various TV and club schedules, teams have been playing two games in five days or six days on a regular basis this year.