TOM Lineham stands on the verge of a big career milestone – not that he knew about it.

The winger’s next try will be his 100th in Super League and his 50th for Warrington Wolves.

His brace in last year’s Super League semi-final victory at St Helens took him to 99, but he could not get over the line in either the Grand Final loss to Wigan or Saturday’s win over Leeds Rhinos in their opening game of 2019.

However, the 26-year-old said he would still be happy with his lot if his career ended with him still stuck one short of three figures.

“I didn’t know that milestone was coming up, but it doesn’t concern me too much,” he said.

“Some people will go their whole careers and not score 99 tries. I feel very privileged to have got that many and any more will be a bonus.

“If those two against St Helens in the semi-final last year are my last two, I’d be happy with that as they were fabulous!

“It doesn’t really matter to me that I didn’t score (against Leeds) as it was a good team performance.

“Obviously you can be a bit rusty at the start of a season so getting the win was the main thing and we did it in some style.

“The overall team performance – the way we executed the game plan and the tries we scored – was really pleasing.”

Lineham has the chance to hit his milestone in Saturday’s game against Hull Kingston Rovers – a team he shared battles aplenty with during his time across the city at Hull FC.

The day before The Wire saw off the Rhinos, Rovers had their own impressive victory as they beat their city rivals and Lineham says getting off to a good start will mean nothing if they do not win on Saturday.

He also said the team must develop a habit of winning when things are not going their way in order to be challenging for honours once again.

“I got a call from (Hull FC full-back) Jamie Shaul after they lost the derby and he was distraught. That’s the ups and downs of sport,” he said.

“We both had good wins and I’m sure they want four points out of four as much as we do.

“People do talk and they have been talking about us after the Leeds game, but it won’t mean anything if we don’t back it up this weekend.

“We just have to keep building each week.

“There will be games where things don’t go to plan but good teams win when they play bad. That’s what we need to do and keep plugging away.”

Lineham may be one of the first names on Wire fans’ teamsheets but the close-season arrival of former Huddersfield man Jake Mamo is keeping him and the rest of the backs on their toes.

The man affectionately known as ‘The Flying Pig’ admits that Mamo is making himself tougher to leave out by the week given his performances on the training ground.

“Top teams have competition for places right across the board,” he said.

“You need that competition in a team. If that’s not there, you’re not pushing each other as much.

“Jake’s a really good player. He tops the stats in everything in training – he’s so fast and agile.

“If one of us has a bad game or two bad games, we’ll be out of there and he will be in.”