I’ll be honest, after watching Warrington Wolves pull it out of the fire to claim victory at Catalans Dragons, I started to believe Sam Burgess’ side could make Super League’s top six.
It was far from the perfect performance from Warrington, who very nearly left Perpignan with another defeat despite starting so strongly in the game. The Wire blew Catalans away in the first half, scoring freely to lead 18-2 and build on their wins over Hull FC and Salford Red Devils.
They took their foot off the gas in the second half though and were just a couple of minutes from defeat before George Williams came up with a magical play to put Josh Thewlis over the line. They deserved the victory ultimately and with nine games to go they found themselves a point short of the play-off place.
As such, it was the type of last ditch result that I thought could be a catalyst for Warrington moving forward and as the dust settled on the game, I came to the conclusion that Warrington might just have enough to pip Hull and Wakefield to a play-off spot come September.
I even suggested as much in a piece last week, with Warrington making the play-offs one of my ‘bold predictions’. Now, to give you something of a peek behind the curtain, those predictions are by nature designed to be slight long-shots. But I did genuinely believe Wire were the team most likely to put it together and claim that final spot in the play-offs.
That was until this weekend.
Of course, the Wolves took on Castleford in the final match of the round on Sunday, meaning we’d already seen both Wakefield and Hull FC put on scintillating performances. The Black and Whites thumped Wigan in a result that few saw coming and Wakefield got back to winning ways in destructive fashion at Huddersfield.
Warrington had to respond then to give themselves something to hold onto after the break and they got themselves the first try of the game at The Jungle as Sam Stone made Cas pay for an error inside the opening few minutes.
The stage was set for Burgess’ outfit to kick on and put a lowly Castleford side to the sword, but what followed was a complete capitulation that underlined just why Warrington Wolves have struggled for consistency all season.
At the first sign of any real pressure from Cas, the visitors crumbled in alarming fashion as Daejarn Asi sold Connor Wrench a dummy and touched down through a crowd. That was before Lachlan Fitzgibbon’s failed attempt to deal with a kick allowed George Lawler to give Castleford the lead.
It was as soft as you like.
With all due respect to the Tigers, who made huge strides of improvement following last week’s loss to Salford, they weren’t producing anything particularly complex. But Warrington’s defensive line was penetrated twice which served to underline their lack of cohesion and mental strength when they’re under the pump.
They could have hit back immediately had Wrench looked for support on a breakaway but over the next 15 minutes or so, Warrington huffed and puffed as they struggled to make the most of their field position. Passes were being forced, errors were made, and the lack of spark and enthusiasm in attack was telling.
Jake Thewlis eventually got over, but that would be Warrington’s last try until Stefan Ratchford scored with 12 minutes remaining. The Wire had their injury issues to contend with, as Jordy Crowther and Marc Sneyd both went off, but their performance was laboured, uninspired and flat. Their key players went missing and they lacked the type of leader required to take charge and give the team in lilac the direction they were missing.
Warrington Wolves’ Sam Burgess gives injury updates on Jordy Crowther, Marc Sneyd and Danny Walker
In Aidan Sezer and Mike McMeeken, Hull and Wakefield have that and, right now, they’re doing things Warrington aren’t as the play-off race gathers pace.
It’s clear then that Warrington are one of the teams who need this small Super League break the most. Having reached the Challenge Cup final, Burgess’ side haven’t had a weekend off all season and that can be draining, just ask Hull KR, who have stumbled in recent weeks, too.
Burgess will be keen to see his side take advantage of the next few days off but when they return to training, the head coach clearly has work to do in breathing some vigour and life back into a side most were tipping to compete this year.
One performance at The Jungle certainly won’t define their season and I’m certainly not writing the Wolves off with eight games to go and Danny Walker on the verge of a return.
However, on the back of that performance against Castleford Tigers, it’s hard to see them responding enough to claim a play-off spot. The next eight games then will be Sam Burgess’ toughest task as a head coach to date.
