WHAT a way to kick off Round 15!
And for Warrington Wolves, it represents a big chance to further cement themselves as being in the championship picture.
Whomever emerges victorious from their clash with Leeds Rhinos at The Halliwell Jones Stadium tonight will finish the weekend as Super League’s leaders, with The Wire also defending a perfect home record.
Ahead of a mouth-watering contest, here are our Game Day talking points…
The perfect set-up
Two sides, with virtually nothing between them after 14 – or in Wire’s case, 13 – rounds of action. The last meeting between them was fittingly tight, with Leeds edging home by four points in Round Six.
Both in form – Warrington with six straight league wins as well as being perfect at home, Leeds with eight wins in their last nine – and with that, high in confidence.
Star names and gun youngsters on both sides and for the victor, the chance to open up daylight at the top of the table.
With all of those things considered, selling this game to prospective attendees and viewers is not difficult whatsoever.
All that’s left now is for the action itself to live up to the hype.
Huge test of Wire’s defensive focus
“We’ll keep backing our defence. Whilst we’re doing that, we’ll be okay.”
Those were Sam Burgess’ words following last week's win at St Helens – a victory for grit and determination as opposed to razzle and dazzle.
While their attacking stats for the campaign as a whole aren’t too shabby – they’re averaging just shy of 30 points a game – it is widely recognised that they haven’t been quite firing with the ball of late.
There is obvious mitigation to offer given the near constant changes Burgess is having to make to his side – the youthful half-back pairing of Ewan Irwin and Leon Hayes is still very much bedding in – but while they continue to defend as they have been doing, they are giving themselves chances.
On average, they are conceding 14 points per game to give them the competition’s best defensive record, but tonight will see that come under huge stress given Leeds are currently scoring 34 points per game on average – Super League’s highest figure on that front.
Unstoppable force, meet immovable object…
There is also a sense that, while Leeds are free-scoring, they can also be vulnerable defensively given they have conceded 20 points or more in three of their last five matches, and 16 in one of the others.
Important perspective needed
You can call this game many things but for either side, it cannot be labelled “must-win.”
While a victory would certainly be an important and noteworthy one, all hope will not be lost should it end in defeat.
From a Warrington perspective, that feels pretty important to note because the reality is that, regardless of their superb home form, The Wire are likely to start this game as underdogs.
It’s only logical – their form is even more impressive given the raft of key men they currently have missing while Leeds will arrive pretty much at full-strength with influential full-back Lachie Miller back on board.
Winning this game would send out quite a message but even if they lose, it should be remembered that they would remain in an excellent position.
A poetic return?
A lot of talk around Warrington of late has quite rightly been around the young stars they are throwing their weight behind.
Now, they look set to welcome one of the very brightest back into the fold.
Part of the reason why Toby King – a man who has been, and still is, one of the competition’s best centres on his day – is being allowed to leave at the end of the year is the club’s faith in the ability of Arron Lindop to step up and fill the void despite having lost a year of his career to an ACL injury.
Tonight, he could be set to put that behind him for what would be a poetic return for him pretty much 12 months to the day since he was last seen on a rugby pitch, and against the same opponents.
Despite his tender years, Lindop’s career has already had some memorable moments – his debut try in Perpignan, scoring twice at Wigan and then on Leeds’ last visit to this part of the world, a stunning individual try.
It’s not yet certain whether or not he will get the nod at left centre – another hugely promising young talent in Lachlan Webster is also in contention to replace the luckless Zack Gardner, who himself stepped in following King’s injury – but all the signs appear to be pointing that way.
Welcome ‘home’
The Halliwell Jones Stadium is nothing new to Brodie Croft, even if it hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for him personally – he has been on the losing side in five of his six games there, and he is yet to score a try in Warrington.
However, he could be forgiven for having a slightly different feeling about his seventh visit – his first since news of his decision to sign with The Wire for 2027 onwards.
He won’t be worrying about endearing himself to the home crowd just yet as he’s got a job to do for the Rhinos before heading this way, nor will he have an eye just yet on Irwin and Hayes, both of whom will end up partnering him at some point from next year onwards.
He may get a warmer reception than usual, but that would no doubt change if he scores!
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