Warrington Wolves team of the decade 2010-2019

Through a series of votes, we have now put together your Wire dream team of stars who have donned the primrose and blue jersey between 2010 and the present day.

We hope you have enjoyed the trips down Memory Lane as much as we have, looking back at a decade that has seen The Wire bring home three Challenge Cups, two League Leaders’ Shields and appear in four Super League Grand Finals.

With all the votes now in, we can reveal your Warrington Wolves team of the decade…

Full-back – BRETT HODGSON

THREE seasons of near faultless reliability and metronomic accuracy from the kicking tee have earned the Australian the number one shirt.

Hodgson averaged more than 10 points per game during his Wire career as he lived up to the hype that followed him from Huddersfield Giants.

He arrived a Man of Steel winner and left with a Lance Todd Trophy under his belt after his stunning display in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final win over Leeds Rhinos.

Hodgson finished ahead of current number one Stefan Ratchford and Richie Mathers.

Brett Hodgson. Picture by Mike Boden

Right wing – JOEL MONAGHAN

PROBABLY one of the players who was nailed on for a spot in this team without the need for a vote.

So it proved as the Australian try-scoring machine beat Chris Hicks, Josh Charnley and Matty Russell for the number two shirt.

His rate of try-scoring has rarely been seen in these parts since the days of Brian Bevan. Indeed, the 38 tries in the 2014 campaign is second only to the great man in terms of tries scored in a single season.

Monaghan’s overall record was rather apt – a try per game, 145 in 145 – as he and brother Michael made hay in our corner of Cheshire.

Joel Monaghan. Picture by Mike Boden

Right centre – MATT KING

ANOTHER Australian in the team, King was the comfortable winner of our right centre poll ahead of Chris Bridge and Toby King as he claimed 80 per cent of the vote.

A player who played across the three-quarter line, it was on the right edge that he featured most during 2010 and 2011 before he returned to his native Australia.

Indeed, King was selected as a centre in the 2010 Super League Dream Team.

The Challenge Cup was won with the Kangaroos representative in the right centre role in 2010 – a year after he scored a hat-trick to set up their first Wembley victory in 35 years.

Matt King. Picture by Mike Boden

Left centre – RYAN ATKINS

THE first Englishman in our team just happens to be The Halliwell Jones Stadium’s leading tryscorer.

Nobody has scored more tries on The Wire’s current home ground than Atkins’ 93 touchdowns and it has got him the number four shirt ahead of Bryson Goodwin.

Furthermore, no centre has scored more tries in the primrose and blue than Atkins’ haul of 168, which included one at Wembley as he helped The Wire win the 2012 Challenge Cup.

The low-key way in which he left to rejoin Wakefield earlier this year was sad, but Atkins’ place in Wire folklore is secure.

Ryan Atkins. Picture by Mike Boden

Left wing – CHRIS RILEY

THE only Warrington-born player in our team, which plenty will see as pretty sad.

An immensely popular figure with fans, the fair-haired winger provided his fair share of memorable moments in a Warrington shirt.

If you asked him, Woolston Rovers junior and former Penketh High School student Riley would surely put his try in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final as top of the lot after he played in the previous two Wembley victories without getting on the scoresheet.

Riley just edged out Tom Lineham for the left-wing spot, with Kevin Penny also featuring in the poll.

Chris Riley. Picture by Mike Boden

Stand-off – LEE BRIERS

COULD there really be anybody else to wear the number six shirt?

He may have been in the autumn of his career at the turn of the decade, but The Wire’s Welsh wizard still showed his breath-taking best.

Who could forget the 2010 Challenge Cup Final, for instance? The kind of virtuoso display we have become used to seeing from Briers, steering his side to back-to-back Challenge Cups and earning himself the Lance Todd Trophy in the process.

It is no slight on Blake Austin, Kurt Gidley, Gareth O’Brien or Kevin Brown that this was perhaps our most one-sided poll – to many, Briers remains Warrington’s greatest ever player.

Lee Briers. Picture by Mike Boden

Scrum-half – CHRIS SANDOW

JUST about beating Richie Myler is a player who could have made himself a legend in this town.

Such was his dazzling form early in 2016 when he and The Wire were tearing teams limb from limb, it looked as though Warrington had finally found somebody to take over Lee Briers’ mantle. Somebody who could be relied upon to sprinkle his magic dust.

However, first came the injuries – a hamstring problem that cut him down in his prime and he never really looked the same thereafter.

Then came the knife to the gut as the playmaker walked out on his contract to return to Australia.

While fans may wonder what might have been, his outrageous talent gets him into your team ahead of Myler, Declan Patton and Tyrone Roberts.

Chris Sandow. Picture by Mike Boden

Prop – ADRIAN MORLEY

THE clear winner of our front rower poll, Morley will always be remembered as the captain who brought the Challenge Cup back to Warrington after a 35-year absence.

In this particular decade, he was first up the Wembley steps to touch the famous silverware on two more occasions.

He was also the man who led Warrington in their first ever Super League Grand Final in 2012.

So many milestones, and Moz was at the forefront of them all.

His final Warrington appearance ended in Grand Final heartbreak in 2013. It can be said of many Wire players from this era, but a Super League title really was the only thing missing from Morley’s time at the club.

Adrian Morley. Picture by Mike Boden

Hooker – MICHAEL MONAGHAN

HE had to hold off a strong challenge from Daryl Clark, but the elder Monaghan brother was voted as your stand-out number nine.

An incredibly classy operator, Monaghan excelled in both the half-back and hooking roles during his time with The Wire.

Working off the base made for them by a dominant forward pack, Monaghan and Micky Higham combined to lay waste to Super League defences regularly.

His six years at the club under Tony Smith were some of the club’s most successful, and the Australian was at the very heart of it.

Micky Higham and Jon Clarke also featured in the number nine vote.

Michael Monaghan. Picture by Mike Boden

Prop – GARRETH CARVELL

THE race for the second prop spot was tight, but the Yorkshireman just pipped current co-captain Chris Hill to the post.

Carvell proved to be a cornerstone of a golden era for the club in the early 2010s.

Whether it was from the start or off the bench, you could always guarantee grit and grunt from Carvell.

He played in the 2010 and 2012 Challenge Cup Final but missed the latter year’s Grand Final due to a back injury.

Would he have made a difference? We will never know.

Mike Cooper and Paul Wood were also included in our poll.

Garreth Carvell. Picture by Mike Boden

Right second row – BEN WESTWOOD

IT just had to be him.

Since its opening, The Halliwell Jones Stadium has shook to the strains of “Super Bennie Westwood” regularly.

Even though the iconic Yorkshireman has now retired, it probably still will.

As The Wire transformed themselves from also-rans to trophy challengers, Westwood has been there through it all.

He may have had a few more injuries and suspensions that he would have liked, but Wire fans will not have had him any other way.

It is no slight on Jack Hughes that he lost out to such an iconic figure in this poll. His time will come, but this shirt had Super Bennie’s name on it.

Ben Westwood. Picture by Mike Boden

Left second row – BEN CURRIE

THE only member of the current Warrington Wolves squad to make the cut.

This proved a tight race for much of the voting period, but Currie did just enough to see off the challenge of both Louis Anderson and Trent Waterhouse for a spot on the left edge.

Currie appeared set for superstardom before two devastating knee injuries – one after the other – sent him back to square one.

His excellent handling and devastating speed made him feature highly among the club’s top tryscorers – he always seemed to find gaps in the opposition defence.

Having played most of 2019 injury-free and with a full pre-season under his belt, the hope now is that we will see the Ben Currie of old in 2020.

Ben Currie. Picture by Mike Boden

Loose forward – DAVID SOLOMONA

THIS proved to be one of the closer votes, with just 11 votes separating the winner from second place.

In the end, though, it was Solomona who edged out Simon Grix for a spot in your team.

With the physicality and brute strength of a prop forward but the hands of a half-back, the Kiwi is perfect for this role.

He often topped the offloading charts as he always had a tendency to win contact and get his arms free.

Solomona was a key part of the 2010 Challenge Cup win and the 2011 League Leaders’ Shield success before injury forced him to retire at the end of 2012.

David Solomona. Picture by Mike Boden