Smith: It was hard to pick out our best player (From Warrington Guardian)

Smith: It was hard to pick out our best player

6:50pm Saturday 26th May 2012 in Wolves news By Christopher Terris Taylor

WOLVES boss Tony Smith found it difficult to pick a stand-out player from his squad after they demolished 'derby' rivals Widnes Vikings 68-4 to go top of the Super League table.

Wolves' 12-try humbling of their local rivals at the Etihad Stadium is the largest defeat Widnes have suffered at the hand of Warrington in the Super League era, beating the 60-16 mauling handed out in 2005.

It would be easy to pinpoint Joel Monaghan's five-try haul as the stand-out individual performance, but with Matty Blythe adding a rare hat-trick and further tries from the excellent Stefan Ratchford, Ryan Atkins, Garreth Carvell and young forward Ben Currie, Smith was spoilt for choice.

"It was hard to pick out of the players today, they all did pretty well," said Smith.

"We prepped well and we got what we deserved out of it.

"I am pleased with the way we went about it, we had a good preparation this week and we had only one late change, with Micky Higham pulling out yesterday.

"Simon Grix was due to have a rest but he ended up doing a pretty good job, as did all the players."

The win takes Wolves top of the table for the moment, with Wigan able to recapture the lead providing they avoid defeat to St Helens on Sunday.

But even if Wolves slip from the top spot tomorrow, they still have plenty to smile about as 17-year-old Ben Currie added another senior try to his tally and captain Adrian Morley returned from injury after six-week lay-off.

For Smith, it was hard to pin-point which aspect pleases him more.

"Moz was good and it was great to have him back," he said.

"It was good for him to get some time back and it was the right sort of game for him to come back so I'm pleased.

"More troops back is good and it is good to get some of the older guys back, but some of those young guys are doing alright, too.

"I loved watching Currie there, Stefan Marsh was chasing him and he is fast, but he couldn't quite keep with him.

"We had both ends of the scale there, with Moz and big Ben and they were both terrific."