PAUL Cullen has admitted he is not sure whether he has anyone capable of taking on a leadership role for Saturday's game at Harlequins if team captain Lee Briers is again ruled out through injury.
Wolves travel to the Stoop for a noon kick-off after an embarrassing Challenge Cup exit at National League One side Hull Kingston Rovers on Sunday and Cullen has doubts over the fitness of Briers and four others.
Briers missed the 40-36 defeat with a hamstring injury and Cullen felt Wolves lacked leadership.
Martin Gleeson, Mark Gleeson and Jon Clarke are suffering from leg muscle injuries ahead of the game against Harlequins, while Stuart Reardon has a dead leg, although Paul Noone (calf) is back.
Cullen will find out tomorrow, Friday, who is fit and who may be able to guide the side during the match, which is live on Sky.
He said: "When Lee Briers is not playing we need to find other players within our group who are able and willing to push the team around the field and play to the game plan.
"There are doubts that we have them because we were beaten by Hull KR.
"There were not enough players taking responsibility for the team performance.
"We had too many who simply sat back and waited for someone else to win the game. That has happened too many times this year."
Cullen has steered clear of a hard-line approach in training this week with injuries likely to prevent many changes, but he has criticised his side's defence.
He said: "We lost Sunday's game for two main reasons. We defended very poorly and our kicking game was poor because we were going backwards.
"We were soft. It's very difficult to take and we have to put that right but we will only do that by not overloading the players this week. We have lightened and shortened the sessions.
"You can't just keep getting tougher and tougher because you end up running people into the ground."
Cullen believes an 'attitude problem' has given Wolves difficulties against the game's lesser lights but does not think that would stop them going on to win a trophy in the future.
He said: "The bottom line is that we weren't good enough to win a game against a National League side, let alone a semi final or a final, but at our peak we can beat the best teams in this competition.
"We have to believe that at some point we can come good and push ourselves forward."
Wolves' games at Castleford on July 2 and at home to Huddersfield on July 9 will kick off at 12.30pm and be televised by Sky.
Quins v Wolves - statistical preview
Last meeting: Wolves 26 Broncos 14, July 17, 2006. Henry Fa'afili grabbed a brace with Martin Gleeson, Dean Gaskell and Brent Grose also scoring, while Chris Bridge landed three goals. Away record versus Quins in Super League: Played 13, won 5, drawn 0, lost 8, points scored 274, points conceded 297. Coach: Tony Rea. Form guide - Quins' last five games: Leeds (A) lost 36-18, Salford (A) won 29-28, Barrow (H) won 82-8, Bradford (H) lost 58-16, Leeds (A) lost 36-24. Team for last match: Mark McLinden; Tyrone Smith, Zebastian Luisi, Rob Purdham, Nick Bradley-Qalilawa; Henry Paul, Luke Dorn; Mark Tookey, Chad Randall, Filimone Lolohea, Solomon Haumono, Lee Hopkins, Joe Mbu. Subs: Danny Williams, David Mills, Pat Weisner, Michael Worrincy. Team news: Matt Gafa, Karl Temata and Thomas Leuluai are still injured. Links with Quins: Rob Parker had a loan spell with London in 2001, while Jon Clarke also spent two seasons in the capital. Danger man: Former Wigan and Bradford stand off Henry Paul is back in rugby league and back on form. Referee: Ronnie Laughton.
Results and fixtures
Other Powergen Challenge Cup quarter final results: Huddersfield 44 Salford 14, Leeds 36 Harlequins 18, St Helens 56 Catalans 10.
Super League Round 16 fixture for today, Thursday: St Helens v Hull (Sky 8pm). Friday: Leeds v Wigan. Saturday: Harlequins v Warrington (Sky noon). Sunday: Castleford v Bradford, Huddersfield v Catalans, Wakefield v Salford.
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