WOLVES boss Tony Smith says his side are showing great resilience ahead of their top-of-the-table showdown against Hull FC tonight.

The Wire go into the clash at The Halliwell Jones Stadium off the back of a 26-4 win at local rivals St Helens despite a build-up beset by injury problems.

Smith says the result is indicative of the character within the Wolves dressing room.

“I think I said the other night that it was our gutsiest win of certainly this year, probably debate even longer than that, it was a big performance in many respects,” he said.

“People probably looked at it and thought it was a fairly comfortable game on our account but it certainly wasn’t.

“There was people there who we weren’t sure would even get through warm-up and we had people there ready to go in case they didn’t, so for them to perform like they did speaks volumes about their gutsiness and fortitude.”

Wolves welcome Lee Radford’s side to Warrington looking for a measure of revenge after losing the last meeting between the sides on Easter Monday.

The 26-24 loss at the KC Stadium was The Wire’s first of the season and forms part of the Black and Whites’ impressive run of league form.

Smith believes there are plenty of aspects from that game his team can learn from.

“We certainly looked at what they did, what areas brought us undone and what areas we brought them undone so we always consider past tactics and past games,” he said.

“You also look at more recent games to see how they’ve been hurting other teams and vice versa.

“You consider all those things then look at the team we have now compared to the team we had that day, we were down a couple of important players that day but so were they “That game was really nip-and-tuck and it could have gone either way.”

Backed by owner Adam Pearson, Radford went on an extensive recruitment drive during the off-season, bringing in the likes of Frank Pritchard, Sika Manu and Mahe Fonua from the NRL.

Smith believes the speed in which the new boys have settled in has allowed Hull to push on to the next level.

“They recruited really well, they have all settled in and feel at home there,” he said.

“They’ve performed solidly after the first few weeks, it was always going to take at least that time but it’s been quite remarkable really how they’ve got into the swing of things to put on the form they have been.

“They’ve been solid without being sensational in the last couple of weeks and like most teams they will probably go through their patches.”