Hull and Wire meet for a third time of the season on Saturday.
Sam Burgess wants to see his Warrington Wolves side ‘compete hard and get stuck in’ against Hull FC on Saturday evening.
The Wire head to East Yorkshire with nothing to play for, whereas John Cartwright’s side are geared up, knowing they still have a shot at making the play-offs in what is a must-win game. Also, with several key players out through injury and suspension, Warrington, like Hull, will field a makeshift side, but Burgess is buoyed by the youth on show, especially if his team makes the necessary improvements.
The Wire head coach has made two changes to his squad, with Luke Yates serving the first game of a two-match suspension and Leon Hayes ruled out with a broken arm. However, skipper George Williams could return and young second-rower Ewan Smith is available again after sitting out last week under concussion protocols.
Speaking pre-match, Burgess said: “For us, it’s about ourselves again. As silly as it sounds, I thought parts of our game were actually much better on Saturday (34-10 defeat to Leigh), although we’re still not anywhere near where we need to be.
“We’ll have a really young team out there again so it’s just looking at little areas of improvement. If we can tidy up some of the errors we were making – I think we had nine just in the first half that were really unforced – then we’ll be in a much better position.
“Losing Leon didn’t help with the flow of our game either, so hopefully we can get more of a clear run. I want to see the boys compete hard and get stuck in.”
And on Hull FC, Burgess is expecting a fired-up opponent. He added: “It’s tough for them as they’re in a tough spot as well – they’re thin with injuries and then lost four through suspension.
“We’re in very similar positions at the moment but they’ve obviously got a bit more on the line – if they get the job done, it keeps them alive and we’re not in that position. We know what’s coming but we’ve got a lot to play for ourselves.”
Warrington Wolves 21-man squad: James Duffy, Matt Dufty, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Adam Holroyd, Ewan Irwin, Toby King, Ryan Matterson, Tom McKinney, Joe Philbin, Sam Powell, Stefan Ratchford, Ewan Smith, Marc Sneyd, Sam Stone, Cai Taylor-Wray, Jake Thewlis, Josh Thewlis, Luke Thomas, Danny Walker, George Williams, Max Wood, Luke Yates.