Higham: We have the firepower to take on Dragons (From Warrington Guardian)

Warrington Wolves' pack could be best in Super League, says Higham

2:51pm Friday 11th May 2012 in Wolves news By Christopher Terris Taylor

WARRINGTON Wolves’ pack could be the best in the league, according to hooker Micky Higham.

As his side prepare to take on one of Super League’s most physically intimidating teams in Catalan Dragons, the 31-year-old is convinced that if they hit their straps Wolves have the beating of Trent Robinson’s excellent set of forwards.

“I really do think that our pack can take them on head-to-head and beat them,” he said.

“When our pack is on song, switched on and aggressive I think that we are one of the best in the league.

“We are a mobile pack, we are fit and we are strong.”

By their own admission Warrington have not hit the high standards set by their remarkable regular season in 2011, though their position of third in the Super League table and only a point behind the two league leaders may argue otherwise.

What has been clear is that Wolves have largely been suffering from problems of their own making, with Tony Smith’s side being the second-most penalised in Super League this year, giving away 110 to Widnes Vikings’ 131.

Captain Adrian Morley has often admitted that he has not been pleased with his own performances -describing his showing against Catalan earlier in the season as his ‘worst in a Wolves shirt’- and his discipline has been an aggravating factor in that.

Morley’s problem has been typical of Wolves’ pack this year, particularly early on, and the number of penalties conceded often meant that Wolves put an awful lot of pressure on themselves defensively.

Higham admits that though Warrington have started down the right track, there is still some way for them to go.

“I think we have put a few things right on the field recently,” he said.

“Discipline was one thing, errors were another, and we have started to address those issues.

“We were struggling with penalties before and a good thing we need to focus on is that it is easily fixable.

“We only gave Salford three penalties at the weekend, so we are on the right tracks.

“I think our defence still has work to do, but if you are not giving away those penalties you don’t have to defend as much and you can invest a bit more energy into going forward.”

Ultimately Wolves will need to keep that trend going if they are to progress to the semi-final stage of the Challenge Cup on Sunday, as conceding 13 penalties during their last visit to the Stade Gilbert Brutus contributed to their heaviest loss under Smith since 2009.

Aside from cutting down their penalty count, Higham also admitted that his side will have to step up from the level they showed on their last trip to France, but believes they will be on the road to success if they can stick to the tasks set by Smith before the match.

“We have not been firing on all cylinders so far, making a few too many errors and taking the juice out of ourselves,” he said.

“If we can complete more sets, have some good kicks and turn their big men around, hopefully we can do to them what we have been doing to ourselves.

“We have been doing it the hard way, so if we can complete our game plan perfectly then we pose a threat to any team.”