WOLVES points machine Chris Hicks made a grave admission in the aftermath of Saturday night’s disastrous second-half crash against Catalans Dragons.

“We just looked as though we gave up,” he said.

“They scored a heap of tries when they had 12 men on the field and that’s inexcusable.”

The 31-year-old former Manly NRL Grand Finalist appeared shellshocked after a game in which his first try of the season had helped to give Wolves an 18-6 lead before they folded to a 40-20 loss.

“We came out at half time looking flat. We just didn’t perform. There’s not much else I can really say.

“We played quite well for the first 38 minutes and Catalans then scored on the bell at half time.

“We probably gave away a lot of stupid penalties and they tended to turn those into points.”

With Wolves falling away badly at St Helens in round one the previous weekend, supporters are pointing the finger at fitness levels.

But Hicks has echoed comments made by head coach Jimmy Lowes in the after-match press conference, saying: “It’s definitely not fitness.

“We’re all fit. We seem to lose momentum and then, over the last two games, when the other teams have started coming good we just haven’t had the extra gear to go with them it seems.

“It doesn’t seem we can match them at the moment. Until we find that, we’re going to be struggling.”

Hicks, who has scored in every game he has played for Wolves since joining in 2008, went into Saturday’s game with a bruised eye and stitches to a cut above his eye, an injury from training the day before the game.

His commitment to the cause could not be doubted and he concluded: “Hopefully Saturday’s performance will put a rocket up us all and we really get fired up and play some good footy because at the moment it’s just not happening.

“We’ve got to get out there at Wakefield on Friday night and rip in for the full 80 minutes.”