WARRINGTON Wolves go into the play-offs accepting that Covid-19 could strike and disrupt any of the competing clubs at any time.

The Wire have coped with the global pandemic better than most teams, and not ended up in the position of needing to cancel or forfeit matches like some clubs have.

Even when Wolves were hit with the loss of seven players through NHS Track and Trace in September, they got on with the job which included a 37-12 success against their first-round play-off opponents Hull FC.

But because of the way Warrington have set themselves up throughout, head coach Steve Price said it is not a case of tightening the camp even further to evade Covid during the finals series.

“We feel we run a really tight ship at our club,” he said.

“We’ve got strict protocols in place, from when we come in to our organisation to when we leave.

“I like to think that we’ve got a group of men who are really stringent and always put the team before themselves.”

But there is one area that is beyond control in this second lockdown, with children attending school as was not necessarily the case when the country’s shutters came down in March.

“It’s just unfortunate the world we live in. A lot of our players and staff have kids in school, and Covid can easily be transmitted through any type of area like that,” said Price.

“It is a risk but we’re doing the best we can as a club and I know the players and staff are also. But there are some things in life currently that you can’t mitigate against. We’re doing our utmost best.”

Week to week during the season has brought plenty of curve balls, including Wire matches against Catalans Dragons and Hull KR being cancelled for Covid reasons in the opponents’ camp and another one being called off because Salford Red Devils forfeited.

Wolves co-skipper Chris Hill said the players and coaches have coped by just focusing on the next task.

“We’re really good at our club of just adapting. We just prepare for the next game. If that gets cancelled, we just adapt again and we go again,” he said.

“All the protocols just become normal.

“It’ll be strange when we go back to some kind of normal. There’ll be no getting that little thing shoved up your nose and down your throat every week. That’s just the way it is.

“We’ve adapted really well. I think everyone’s gone through it. We prepared to play someone like we did the other week and then we ended up playing Huddersfield.

“I think it’s shone rugby league in a really good light with the way we’ve managed to get through it and hopefully we’ll come out the other side a lot better and a lot stronger.”

Hill said he has missed not playing in front of supporters.

“I’ll be honest, it’s tough without a crowd but that’s just the way it is and everyone’s in the same boat,” he said.

When and however the season finishes Hilly will look back with pride at what rugby league has achieved during the unprecedented health crisis.

“The resilience of rugby league players is unbelievable and this year probably brought that to the forefront,” he said.

“After three to four months off, we came back in good shape and it just showed what it meant to us.

“I can speak for all the lads in that it’s been a tough year, as it has for everyone. But we’re still playing rugby so we can take a little bit from that. There’s a lot more people out there who are a lot more worse off than us.”