Praise for quartet in Wolves' victory over Hull (From Warrington Guardian)

Praise for quartet in Warrington Wolves' victory over Hull

9:01pm Sunday 24th June 2012 in Wolves news By Mike Parsons

HAT-TRICK hero Ryan Atkins was named man of the match against Hull but his boss singled out four players for praise.

Head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith was pleased with the second-half efforts of the entire team but highlighted the performances of Trent Waterhouse, Stefan Ratchford and Michael Monaghan along with Atkins.

“Atkins was great, he was on fire,” said Smith of the England centre.

“He looked sharp, powerful and speedy.

“He did some tough stuff for us as well, not just the flashy stuff.

“It just looked like that when he got the ball somebody hit the fast-forward button. He just went tearing into them.

“He came out of our own end very well for us as well. Some of his carries early in the set got us some of the momentum that we were looking for.”

Waterhouse is growing into the English game, showing high workrate in defence as well as the class that made him an Australian international second rower.

Smith said: “He was very good again. He went to the right-hand side this week because Benny Westwood was out and I thought he was very powerful for us.

“Another stand-out performer was Stefan Ratchford. I thought he was brilliant at full back and had a really big influence on us.

“He brought the ball back from a lot of situations and got tsome good offloads in and second-phase stuff, while also linking up well with his wingers.”

It was Monaghan’s first appearance since the home defeat to St Helens at the end of March, since when Micky Higham has played through the pain barrier of a broken wrist and young Brad Dwyer has been blooded in the hooking role.

Smith said: “He just slotted straight back in and looked good.

“Micky Higham has done a fine job for us and I can’t praise him and Brad Dwyer enough but it was nice to have Michael back in there as a back-up for Micky.”