THERE will be no resting of players for Wolves’ Super 8s clash with Castleford Tigers, confirms head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith.

The game at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday, kick off 2pm, comes just a week before The Wire head to Wembley Stadium to face Hull FC in the Challenge Cup Final.

The Black and Whites are leaving inspirational skipper Gareth Ellis out of their team for the game against Catalans Dragons tonight, Thursday, but Smith says too many changes could damage Wolves’ fight to finish top of Super League.

“We’re not messing around with our team. The players are really keen to play and they really want it at the moment,” he said.

“After the cup we can look at what’s best going forward for what we want to achieve but, at this moment in time, it’s all about keeping the momentum going, feeling good about our performances and trying to build on it each week.

“Because of where we’re sitting in the table, while it’s not the be-all and end-all we are still in with a chance of the League Leader’s Shield and we want to stay in that hunt. If we don’t put in a good performance against Castleford, that makes it very tough.

“We’re all keen to get out there, perform well and go to Wembley with a bit of confidence.”

If Hull beat Catalans tonight, a win for Wolves on Saturday would mathematically secure their place in the Super League semi finals with four Super 8s games still to play.

Smith, who confirms everyone who featured in the 38-10 win at Wakefield last weekend and the reserves’ 54-20 win over Wigan is fit and available, said putting on a good show for the fans was motivation enough for the game.

“We’re aware of the ramifications for us but we don’t make a huge issue of it,” he said.

“The fact that we’re in with a shout out being league leaders should be enough for us and I think will be enough in terms of motivation, as well as pride in the jersey.

“We’ve been pretty good at home most of the year as well and it’s important for us to put on a good show for our home crowd before we go off to Wembley.

“We’ve come through good this week, we’re in pretty good shape. Matty Russell tweaked his ankle in the Wakefield game but he’s been in full training so everyone’s ready to go.”

Meanwhile, Wolves’ under 19s face Catalans Dragons in a curtain-raiser to the Castleford game at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, kick off 11.30am.

Wolves 19-man squad: 4 Ryan Atkins; 33 Ryan Bailey; 9 Daryl Clark; 11 Ben Currie; 16 Brad Dwyer; 3 Rhys Evans; 1 Kurt Gidley; 8 Chris Hill; 12 Jack Hughes; 18 George King; 24 Toby King; 20 Kevin Penny; 6 Stefan Ratchford; 5 Matty Russell; 7 Chris Sandow; 10 Ashton Sims; 14 Joe Westerman; 13 Ben Westwood; 27 Sam Wilde.