Salford Red Devils 17 Warrington Wolves 12, talking points

The Wire missed the chance to go level on points at the top of Super League having lost 17-12 at Salford Red Devils in Round Nine.

Our Wire reporter Matt Turner was there and picks out five post-match talking points from the game...

Heartbreak for Hayes

Unfortunately, there is only one place to start.

From the very moment he emerged from an innocent and innocuous-looking second-half tackle, it was abundantly clear Leon Hayes had suffered a very serious injury.

Seeing any player stretchered from the field with his leg in a brace is heartbreaking but for a youngster in the midst of his breakthrough season at his hometown club, it is truly gut-wrenching.

The chanting of his name and outpouring of well wishes on social media told you how popular Hayes really is, not just among Wire fans but in Super League as a whole.

He faces a long road to recovery but clearly has the mental toughness to take such a thing in his stride.

It may be a while, but Leon Hayes will be back.

Leon Hayes is treated on the field (Image: SWPix.com)

Reality check for Wire

Given what happened to Hayes, rugby league almost pales into insignificance but as Sam Burgess said in his post-match press conference, “that’s sport.”

Would Wire have closed out victory if their scrum-half had stayed on the pitch? The readjustment certainly didn’t help them but once the dust settles, they will have to pick the bones out of another performance where they did not hit the high standards they have set for themselves.

They managed to find something to sneak over the line against Leigh last week but here, they were not so lucky.

There may be debate in some quarters about the penalty try that ultimately proved the difference between the two sides, but Warrington did not do enough to win this game before or after that moment.

The penalty try that proved decisive as Danny Walker hauls down Ryan Brierley (Image: SWPix.com)

Is attack starting to falter after strong start?

Wire’s work with the ball has been pleasing for most of this year, with the high point being the Challenge Cup win at St Helens where they ran 31 points past the competition’s meanest defence.

However, this is the second game in a row since then that they have struggled to get things going in attack.

There can be mitigation found in some alterations on the edges – Wire do miss a certain dynamism when Connor Wrench is not playing while Matty Ashton’s absence was keenly felt – but the creative spine remained unchanged until Hayes’ injury.

In defence too, while they did well to turn away some strong periods of self-inflicted pressure in the second half, the two tries they conceded in the first half were soft in the extreme.

Tim Lafai found it all too easy to shrug off four would-be tacklers to score the opener while dummy-half push-overs like the one Joe Mellor scored are always infuriating for coaches.

This one came immediately after George Williams had taken Wire into a 10-4 lead, too, which made it all the more frustrating.

Has Burgess showed his hand?

After the game, Burgess made some interesting comments in his press conference with regards the flow of the game.

It was certainly a stop-start affair thanks to a raft of errors on both sides while referee James Vella made several visits to video official Tom Grant.

Burgess said the game being such a way meant his side could not find a rhythm and while the same could be said for Salford – it certainly wasn’t a polished display from them either – those comments could be interpreted elsewhere as the Wire boss showing his hand.

Opposition coaches will now be thinking the best way to stop this Warrington side is to slow the pace of the game down as much as possible while staying on the right side of the line of legality, although that much is probably clear for any side.

Referee James Vella made several visits to the video referee (Image: SWPix.com)

No time to overreact

Amid the good wishes for Hayes’ recovery, there were a few signs of the world falling in on itself on social media immediately after Wire’s defeat was confirmed.

Perhaps that was a matter of timing more than anything – Round Nine was the start of Wire’s dramatic downward spiral in 2023, but this is a new year and reaching for the panic button following this game would be premature.

Every season has its peaks and troughs and even though this was a disappointing outing, there are still plenty of signs that Wire will win enough games to stave off an extended losing run.

They kept themselves in the game again despite being below their best and if they continue to do that as a bare minimum, there will be games – like the win over Leigh, for example – where they will get over the line.