THOSE who watched this game would surely have come away with a great feeling of satisfaction.

And that goes for both sides, too – like the Warrington Wolves fans in attendance, those cheering on Salford Red Devils got a glimpse into their own future.

On these kind of nights, results don’t really matter. It is all about the experience gained by the potential stars of the future.

From a Wire point of view, Daryl Powell can afford to be very pleased with what he saw.

Not just from his young players either – Jason Clark led the pack well in the first half while Joe Bullock had a promising 30-minute stint from the start.

This is not the game upon which he will be judged but he kept it simple and carried the ball hard and straight, eating up the metres in the process.

That is what Powell will need plenty of from the fair-haired big man. So much will depend on it.

Warrington Guardian:

Joe Bullock started the game against Salford. Picture by Mike Boden

Once those two and Josh Charnley had departed the scene to rest legs for Headingley, it was all about the youngsters and they certainly delivered.

Half-backs Leon Hayes and Riley Dean built pressure and brought their edge players onto the ball in promising fashion.

Hayes also made an excellent defensive intervention in halting a fleet-footed Morgan Escare break through the middle with the score at 6-0.

All of those playing for the first time at this level did exactly as a player in their respective positions would be expected to do – Morgan Burgess, Tom Whitehead and Luke Thomas ran the ball in hard through the middle, Tom Inman provided clean ball from dummy-half and both Jake Thewlis and Jack Darbyshire were threats in the centres.

Both of them deserved their tries, with both of the former’s brace being set up by older brother Josh, who was by far the game’s stand-out player.

Warrington Guardian:

He does not turn 20 until April but this is now his fourth season as a fully-fledged member of the first-team squad, and his development is clearly accelerating.

While he featured mostly on the wing in 2021 and may well do so again this year, it is clear he is a natural and technically excellent full-back.

Faultless under the high ball, impeccable in reading the game to diffuse dangerous kicks and returning the ball with venom formed part of a truly outstanding display.

Stefan Ratchford will no doubt be the first-choice full-back again this year but Thewlis is a Wire number one in waiting and he will be expected to challenge for that shirt this year.

The game of course has to be put into context of it being a friendly played at nowhere near the intensity of a Super League game, but on this evidence and having not disappointed in previous runs at the back, there may not be many disappointed to see his name on the teamsheet.

So all in all, a thoroughly pleasing night’s work for Warrington to officially bring the curtain down on their pre-season.

Now for the real thing…