WARRINGTON Wolves head into unfamiliar territory confident they are ready to give the play-offs series their best shot.

Teams usually build up a head of steam going into this stage of the campaign, but when The Wire face Hull FC in the first-round eliminator at The Halliwell Jones Stadium tonight, Thursday, kick-off 7.45pm, they will be challenged not only by a form team but also by this being only their second game in 30 days due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They will need to nail the increased intensity that the play-offs bring despite limited game time of late.

“We’ve said all along there’s going to be a lot of curve balls and there certainly has been,” said Wolves head coach Steve Price.

“The players are looking pretty sharp and they’re fresh.

“It’s been unfortunate we haven’t been playing for a little bit, but as a coaching group we’ve tried to mimic as much contact at high intensity training as best we could have over this block of training and we like to think it’s held us in good stead.

“We’ve been trying to get as much 13 v 13 as best we could. The boys are fit, strong, and it’s about going out there and executing the game plan now.

“We’ve done the best we can in the circumstances we’ve been dealt, we feel.”

Price said he has seen signs that his men are good to go.

“You can feel it in and around our organisation, the way they train, the way they carry themselves, conduct themselves with really high energy and there’s been good intensity about how the boys have been training,” he said.

“There’s a real good feel about it.

“And we’ve got a very experienced group at our club, players who have played on the big stage and understand what big games look like which is important.”

Co-skipper Chris Hill will lead his men into his seventh play-offs series and knows a tough test awaits.

“It seems like a while since we played against Huddersfield, but that’s the way the season has run – you can play two in four days and then one in a month,” he said.

“But we’ve adapted accordingly through training and conditioning. We’re ready to go.

“It’s going to be a tough ask though. They’re playing some really good rugby at the minute so we’re really up against it.”

Up until last week Hull appeared to be out of the end-of-season shake-up, but Super League’s decision to amend the series format for the second time in the wake of Covid’s impact has handed them a lifeline as the lowest qualifiers in sixth place.

But they are on a run of three successive wins, are playing under a caretaker coach in Andy Last who wants the role full-time and is determined to impress, and could be motivated by the Grand Final being switched from Old Trafford to their KCOM Stadium ground on November 27.

“They’re probably coming into a little bit of form and now we’ve been shoved into a six they’ll fancy themselves,” said prop Hill.

“We’ve done our homework and if we give our best version of ourselves we’re pretty confident.

“It’s good to have a pathway in front of you but we’ve said from the outset we want to be in big games, our club should be in big games and these big games start this week. But we’re not looking past this Thursday simple as that.”