Warrington Wolves v Catalans Dragons, Spirit of 55 column

THIS was another game where Wire showed what they are already good at, and that it is good enough to paper over their long-term cracks to win one-off games.

Defence and effort levels were hard to criticise. It was particularly pleasing to see the right side of the defence looking harder to break down than it has been for many of the games over the last year or so.

Which combination of players in what positions will make the best Wire team this season is still an intriguing puzzle for Steve Price to solve.

So many possible and viable options.

Thewlis is throwing his hat into the ring too, he looks Super League standard already and he can still get even better.

I believe it is always good to have at least a couple of young players in a team, rather than being full of players who take their spot in the team for granted.

Austin started the game as if he was determined to prove that he belongs in Wire’s best team.

Perhaps one or two others would benefit from being left out of the team for a game or two.

Unfortunately, Austin still appears as if he is disconnected from the rest of the team at times and not fully on the same wavelength, as if he is given a different game plan to everyone else.

It might be that his best role could be as some sort of impact player off the bench.

None of these team selections are mine to make. I can only hope that the coach does pick the team purely on the merits of players' performance and not on reputations and size of salaries.

In this competition in which Wire have had more success than any other team in the last dozen seasons, they are once again looking like one of the favourites to win it.

The combination of tough, enthusiastic defence and moments of individual brilliance in attack will always make them a threat in the cup.

It is surreal to see Greg Inglis playing for Wire, not being able to be in the stadium and watch him in the flesh makes it even more surreal.

He spent a good chunk of time at full back, where he might well end up playing more time, allowing Ratchford to play in the halves and Thewlis to play more matches on the wing before he could go on to make the full back spot his own for the long term, sooner or later.

Inglis looked very much like he was easing his way back into the sport that he once excelled at.

Hopefully, it will be like riding a bike for him, for now though he is staying in the low gears and not taking any corners too quickly.

If by the second half of the season he has been able to go up through the gears and get somewhere close to top speed, then it goes without saying that he could be a major and crucial asset to the team.

For now, he can add to the organisation of the team in defence and attack, while doing all he can to make sure his winning attitude rubs off on the rest of the squad.