SAM Burgess has confirmed Warrington Wolves have opted against appealing the one-match suspension handed down to forward Jordy Crowther.

It means the former Wakefield man is officially ruled out of Friday’s Round Two clash with Hull FC having been charged by the Match Review Panel with Grade C “other contrary behaviour” following his yellow card against Catalans Dragons on Saturday.

Crowther was sin-binned by referee Chris Kendall for an off-the-ball hit on Dragons forward Romain Navarette during the late stages of The Wire’s 16-10 defeat and the incident has been deemed worthy of a suspension.

Warrington retained the right to appeal the charge at tonight’s Operational Rules Tribunal but ran the risk of Crowther’s suspension being extended if the challenge was deemed frivolous.

As such, Burgess confirmed at his pre-match press conference today that, even though there were “mitigating factors” around the incident, the club were keeping their powder dry.

“We’ll take it on the chin – we have to pick our moments with those things,” he said.

“There’s mitigating factors but we don’t want to risk anything. There’s probably a case either way.

“We really just have to get on board with it as it’s not going to change. It’s an unfortunate one for Jordy but he’s got to learn that lesson.

“It’s going to be a thing that coaches are going to have to manage through the year as we’ve seen there’s a few players going to be out for a while.

“We’ve got to get it right otherwise it hurts you.”

As such, Burgess now has to ponder how he will replace Crowther, who started at loose forward in Perpignan, when the Black and Whites visit The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday.

However, he confirmed prop Joe Bullock was not in contention – the former Wigan man turned out for Widnes Vikings on dual-registration at the weekend but the Wire boss says he is not yet ready to contend for a place in his side.

And while he opted against being more specific, Burgess confirmed there are a couple of fresh injury doubts ahead of Friday’s game.

“We’ve got a couple of niggles,” he said.

“I don’t know the team yet so we’ll have to see what happens over the next day or two.”

On Bullock, he added: “He’s not playing this week. He needs a little more time.

“He needs to work on a couple of things but he needs a bit more game time, so he won’t play this week.”

Burgess was able to offer more detail on the longer-term injury concerns within his squad – centre Rodrick Tai and second rower Matty Nicholson.

The pair are currently sidelined with knee and groin injuries respectively, and they will remain unavailable for the foreseeable future.

“I need to get 100 per cent clarification on it but they’re both doing well and progressing,” Burgess said.

“They’re on track – Matty Nic is six to eight weeks away and Rod won’t be too far behind him, so they’re both around that mark.”

One man who is set to return to contention this week is winger Josh Thewlis, who missed Round One after remaining in England for the birth of his first child.

He appears set to replace teenager Arron Lindop, who scored a try on his senior debut at the Stade Gilbert Brutus but has been back in the classroom this week – he is undertaking a course at Priestley College alongside his first-team training.

And Burgess says that, despite his exploits against the Dragons, the 17-year-old’s priority remains completing his studies.

“I probably would have played him again this week, but he’s been in college all day today. That’s the most important thing for him at the moment,” he said.

“It’s hard for me to play him if he’s missed a day’s training so he won’t play this week, but it’s not through anything he’s done wrong.

“The main priority for him this year has always been for him to be at college until he finishes in the middle of the year.

“I’ve dragged him in a few times and he’s impressed me, then a chance came up for him on Saturday and he took it.

“The plan was never to play him this early but as things unfolded, we had three wing options unavailable – JT had the baby which is great news and Rod Tai and Matty Russell were injured, so he was the next guy up.

“It fell his way and that’s sometimes how things work, but he’s back to college this week.”

Burgess was speaking to the press after his squad hosted NRL Premiers Penrith Panthers in an opposed training session at The Halliwell Jones Stadium this morning.

The Panthers are in England to face Wigan Warriors in the World Club Challenge on Saturday and Burgess says his players got plenty out of the session.

“It’s great for our club – they’re four-time Grand Finalists and three-time winners so they’re top of the tree when it comes to the global game,” he said.

“Our academy boys went out there and Penrith hosted them extremely well – they had a friendly and some of their senior players took time out to chat to our guys, which shows what their culture is about.

“So when they came over here, we were happy to help them out.

“It was a great practice – we got plenty out of it and I’m sure they will have got plenty out of it too.

“It was good for both teams to mingle and look at each other’s habits. They’ve been at the top for a while so it’s been good to see what they’re doing.”