WOLVES are still missing several key names but head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith says his side are in “better shape” going into the home clash with Hull FC tomorrow, Friday, kick off 8pm.

After last week’s 26-4 win over St Helens, Smith revealed the week’s preparations had been severely disrupted, with players such as Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Kurt Gidley and Ryan Bailey playing with knocks.

All four are in the squad for Friday’s game, with Ashton Sims and Kevin Penny also returning to the fold to replace Joe Philbin and Toby King in the 19-man party.

Prop Sims missed last week through suspension, while winger Penny has been absent since tearing his hamstring in last month’s loss at Wakefield.

However, the top-of-the-table clash has come too soon for the likes of Ben Westwood, Jack Hughes and Matty Russell, all of whom Smith confirmed would be available for selection next week.

“Players are still carrying some knocks but we’re certainly in better shape and our preparation has been better already than what we had last week,” Smith said.

“We’re not out of the woods yet in terms of players carrying injuries, we’ve got a couple of players returning in the next few weeks which will give us a shot in the arm so we don’t have to play players with knocks.”

In contrast, Hull coach Lee Radford has the luxury of selecting from an injury-free group of players for the clash between Super League’s top two.

The Wire will return to the summit with a win but will fall four points behind the Black and Whites if they lose.

“At the moment they’re almost injury-free and that gives them a really great chance. When you’ve got your top salaried players playing well and uninjured, it gives you your best shot at winning games,” Smith said.

“Whatever game is in front of us is our most important one but we understand if we put in a good enough performance and come out on top that we can regain that first position.

“We’ll be doing our hardest to try and do that but we also know it isn’t the end of our season if we don’t.

“We’re going to give it everything we can. We think we’ve got the capabilities to do it, its just a matter of putting that into action.

“They’ve been strong lately without being sensational so we need to be strong ourselves.”

Wolves 19: Ryan Atkins, Ryan Bailey, Daryl Clark, Jordan Cox, Ben Currie, Brad Dwyer, Rhys Evans, Kurt Gidley, Chris Hill, Benjamin Jullien, George King, Tom Lineham, Gene Ormsby, Kevin Penny, Stefan Ratchford, Chris Sandow, Ashton Sims, Joe Westerman, Sam Wilde.