Daryl Clark increasingly likely to leave Warrington Wolves

As has been heavily rumoured in recent weeks, the Guardian understands the off-contract hooker is increasingly likely to leave the club he joined in 2015 when his current deal expires at season’s end.

While it is understood no deal has been officially signed yet, Clark has been strongly linked with a move to St Helens as a replacement for club icon James Roby, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Here, we look at the potential impact of Clark’s seemingly impending departure and where it leaves The Wire going forward…

A move that will cause plenty of upset

Daryl Powell has been open about his desire to keep Clark at the club beyond this season and has frequently hailed his selflessness and commitment to the cause.

For much of this year, he has been asked to play out of position at loose forward due to the amount of unavailability in the middle unit and for the same reason, he put his hand up to return earlier than anticipated from a knee injury for the clash with Wigan last month.

When you add all of that to his significant contributions across the 224 Warrington appearances he has made since his arrival from Castleford, losing a player of his proven quality would be an undoubted blow.

Seeing him go to a rival in St Helens would be hard for supporters to stomach and a look at social media has seen plenty of negative reaction to rumours of his departure.

In spite of the club’s efforts to keep him, it may just be a simple case of Clark wanting a new challenge after nine seasons with The Wire.

That plus the opportunity to fill the boots of a Super League legend in James Roby may have seemed like too big a challenge to turn down.

Daryl Clark won the Lance Todd Trophy as Wire beat Saints in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final (Image: Mike Boden)

Walker’s progress softens the blow

Currently, Warrington Wolves possess two England international hookers – a fine position for any side to be in.

And the rapid progression of Danny Walker has been such that even with both players available, many put him ahead of Clark as the club’s starting nine already.

In a salary-capped sport, keeping both of them was always going to get harder as time went on.

At 23 years old and with his career on a fast-moving upward trajectory, there would no need to spend big on a replacement – Walker’s presence would mean a top-class hooker remains at the club even if Clark were to leave.

Indeed, The Wire are believed to be in negotiations with Walker about an extension to his current deal, which is due to expire at the end of next season.

Danny Walker has been among the stand-out players in Wire's fine start to 2023 and made his senior England debut against France last month (Image: Mike Boden)

How about a replacement?

Alongside George Williams, Clark is believed to be one of The Wire’s two allotted “marquee” players so one of those spaces would open up if he departs.

There would also be salary cap space available and while it may put them in the market for a replacement hooker, they may choose to divert those resources to other areas of the squad – the centre position, for example, is one many feel the club are lacking in.

With that in mind, The Wire may find themselves going down the “low money, low risk” route in search of someone to serve as back-up to Walker from 2024 onwards, similar to the kind of deal that brought Matty Russell back to the club.

There are also some promising youngsters to consider – he may not have made his first-team debut yet, but the first-team coaching staff are believed to be impressed by the potential of academy graduate hooker Aiden Doolan, who has been a stand-out performer for the reserves this year having shone for the under 18s in 2022.

Beyond him, there is also excitement about current academy hooker Ben Hartill.

Aiden Doolan has been impressive for the reserves this season (Image: Lewis Tate)