ONCE again, Warrington Wolves will take the field without the services of several first-choice players this weekend.

However, head coach Sam Burgess insists he tries not to get “too bogged down” by the ever-fluid area of player availability.

The Wire have had their fair share of injury and personal issues to deal with this year, including both first-choice half-backs in George Williams and Josh Drinkwater being hampered by ankle and thigh issues respectively.

Until this weekend, he had not been able to call upon the services of Rodrick Tai and Matty Nicholson, Lachlan Fitzgibbon briefly returned home to Australia due to a family bereavement while Josh Thewlis, Danny Walker and Ben Currie have all missed matches to await the arrival of newborn children.

And that has perhaps been the most impressive aspect of their promising start to the year, with youngsters such as Leon Hayes and Adam Holroyd enjoying extended runs in the side.

With that in mind, has Burgess’ idea of what his best 17 looked like evolved in the opening weeks?

“I try not to look too far ahead with that or get too bogged down with who is in and out,” he said.

“I just try and put what is our best 17 for that given week out on the field and I’ll continue to do that as we move forward.

“We do get a few guys back in the next month or so but it’s always a fluid situation.

“You’ll get a couple of guys back and then you’ll lose one, or you’ll get one back then lose two, so I’ve learned not to be too dependent on people coming back or staying fit.

“It’s a hard sport and it’s part of my job to manage that, but we’ve been doing it okay.”

On the reverse of the player availability situation, plenty of have been keen to apply another context to The Wire’s start to 2024 in that of their four wins thus far, three have come against the sides currently at the bottom of Super League in Hull FC, Castleford Tigers and London Broncos.

Sterner tests will follow in the coming weeks including the hosting of Catalans Dragons – the only side to blot their copy book so far – on Easter Saturday before a trip to Leeds Rhinos, a home game against Challenge Cup holders Leigh Leopards and a visit to fast-starting Salford Red Devils.

Should they emerge from their sixth-round cup clash with London on Saturday victorious, their quarter-final tie will sit in the middle of those four games over the weekend of April 13-14.

So does Burgess feel what has happened thus far has built enough of a foundation for them to cope with tougher tests to come?

“We’re slowly building,” he said.

“We’ve had a couple of big games – the Catalans game was a tough start and at Hull KR on a tough field, it was a very good game that we hung in there and got the points.

“We’re trying to get better to compete in every game, regardless of who the opposition is.

“Our challenge is to compete in every game. I wouldn’t say we’ve quite nailed it yet but we’re going in the right direction.”