Warrington Wolves talking points ahead of Leigh Leopards clash

They may have a Challenge Cup semi-final to look forward to but first and foremost, there are four rounds of league action to deal with starting with Leigh Leopards' visit to The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Ahead of the game, our Wire reporter Matt Turner picks out five key pre-match talking points to discuss...

Can Wire come down from Cloud Nine?

Sunday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over St Helens will be remembered by Wire fans for a long time, of that there can be no doubt.

For the players, however, they will have had to forget about it pretty quickly having enjoyed their well-earned celebrations.

That’s the beauty of moving the knockout competition forward to the point where it will be done and dusted by early-June – there will still be so much to play for in Super League by that point, and Sam Burgess is clearly acutely aware of that.

To that end, his main task this week will be to bring his players back down from Cloud Nine and refocus them for what will be an intense and keenly-fought battle, despite what the league table may suggest.

All of the right noises are being made in the camp, so let’s see if an “after the Lord Mayor’s show” type of performance can be avoided.

The scenes of celebration at St Helens will have to be forgotten for now (Image: PA Wire)

If it ain’t broke…

Burgess has already marked himself out to be a coach who rewards good performance. If you play well, you keep your spot – it’s that simple.

And in affirming he would stick with the same starting 13 that began the game at St Helens despite the return of Paul Vaughan – the cornerstone of the Wire pack – from suspension is another fine example of that.

That is not to diminish Vaughan’s continued importance to the team, but not even he should be beyond having to fight for his place in the side.

If anything, the performance of others in his absence means Burgess can perhaps be more selective in his use of the Australian – could the weekly monster stints now be a permanent thing of the past?

The answer to that will emerge in time but Burgess’ assertion that keeping the same 13 with Vaughan returning from the bench was “logical” seems fair enough.

As the old saying goes – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Paul Vaughan will return from the bench against Leigh (Image: Mike Boden)

A chance to demonstrate progress

The last time Leigh were at The Halliwell Jones Stadium was just over two months ago on a night in which the task stretching out before Wire’s rookie head coach was laid bare.

Indeed, his post-match words following his side’s 28-12 defeat to the Leopards in Joe Philbin’s Testimonial match were "we weren’t what I thought we were going to be and we’ve got a bit of work to do.”

Of course, that game has to be put into the usual pre-season context and for front-line first-teamers, it was essentially a 40-minute shake-down session.

In the time both sides had their biggest guns out on the field, however, it was Leigh who looked the best-equipped to have a strong start to the season.

The opposite has indeed happened and for Warrington, it is a chance to show their fans and their head coach just how far they have come as a group since then.

Wire were beaten by Leigh in Joe Philbin's Testimonial match in February (Image: Mike Boden)

Big test for right edge

Defensively, Wire have been pretty solid in general across the first nine games of the season – they have conceded just over two tries and 11 points per game on average, which can be considered a good effort in anybody’s book.

However, a perceived weakness has been their right edge – half of the 20 tries they have let in have come down the right although, none of those have come in the past two games.

The additions of George Williams and Matty Nicholson certainly seemed to have stiffened that side up off the ball, but that improvement will certainly be tested this week.

Leigh’s left edge – containing star half-back Lachlan Lam and the prolific former Wire winger Josh Charnley as well as powerful centre Ricky Leutele and classy back-rower Kai O’Donnell – is certainly their strike edge.

As such, the four-man unit of Williams, Nicholson, Connor Wrench and Josh Thewlis can expect to be busy.

Star half-back Lachlan Lam will be a key threat for Leigh Leopards (Image: SWPix.com)

A point to prove

One of the main subplots of recent Warrington-Leigh clashes has been the sheer number of former Wire players within the Leigh ranks.

That remains the case as the likes of Charnley, Robbie Mulhern and Jack Hughes among others return to their old stomping ground – and now there is a new player to add to that list.

Hooker Brad Dwyer’s return to the club that gave him his start in professional rugby league was over before it had even begun – having been effectively relegated to third-choice dummy-half by Sam Powell’s signing, he was loaned out to Leigh in the season’s third week and that move has now been made permanent.

It seemed pretty clear from the start that Dwyer was not a part of Burgess’ plans for the team and he deserves credit for getting his head down and, by all accounts, impressing many at the club during pre-season.

Now, though, he gets an opportunity to show his old head coach exactly what he is missing.

Brad Dwyer's second spell at Warrington Wolves ended without him making a competitive appearance (Image: Mike Boden)