MATTY Blythe believes the young talent within the Wolves squad will be better for their experiences in 2016 despite an ultimately disappointing end to the campaign.

The likes of Declan Patton, Toby King and Morgan Smith all made major breakthroughs in the first team last season, with George King, Sam Wilde and Joe Philbin also adding to their previous experience.

Blythe, who has rejoined the club from Championship side Bradford Bulls, says he has been impressed with what he has seen from the youngsters so far.

“The games were on Sky quite a lot last year and you could see lads coming in at the back end of the season and doing a great job,” he said.

“I thought Morgan Smith, Joe Philbin and Toby King were all excellent as well as Dec Patton in a key position.

“To come into that sort of situation and handle some high-pressure games the way they did was really impressive.

“The experience they will have gained from that will only help them along and I think they will make us stronger this year.”

The versatile academy product, who last played for The Wire in 2012, says the emergence of said youngsters has made the job of picking a team much harder for head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith.

“I don’t think there will be too much panic about throwing these guys in when needed now as Tony has seen they can do a job,” he said.

“It all adds to the competition for places. It’s going to be a tough ask to get into that 17 this year but that’s how it should be.”