Warrington Wolves talking points after Salford defeat

Having gone into their Super League return against Salford Red Devils looking to bounce back from their Challenge Cup Final defeat, their neighbours only served to deepen their anguish.

The 25-14 defeat at The Halliwell Jones Stadium was The Wire's third in a row in all competitions, extending what is by far the most difficult period of Sam Burgess' tenure as head coach to date.

Here, our Wire reporter Matt Turner picks out five key talking points following the Round 14 action...

A rotten hangover

Well anyone hoping the performance at Wembley was a one-off was to be left disappointed.

We had heard all week about the need for a response, with Sam Burgess himself saying the way in which his players bounced back from losing the Challenge Cup Final would define them as a group.

Surely, then, they don’t want to be defined by performances like this?

The absence of key players can provide some amount of mitigation but in truth, it was a similar kind of flat and uninspired showing that they produced with their best side out at Wembley.

Bumps in the road are to be expected for any team, but this one is getting more concerning.

Depressing déjà vu in nightmare start

As Burgess said himself post-match, Warrington had actually done okay in the early exchanges and were doing a decent job of controlling territory.

However, they were hit with a triple dose of this flamboyant Salford side being able to strike from anywhere to leave them desperately struggling.

Indeed, the first Salford try started with an ambitious Ethan Ryan offload when it looked as though he was about to be trapped in-goal and a couple of plays later, Nene Macdonald was waltzing between the Wire posts.

That started an 18-point blitz in as many minutes – a similar kind of purple patch to the one Catalans hit at The Halliwell Jones in Round Six – with the visitors striking three times from deep to leave the hosts stunned.

Once again, Wire left themselves with way too much to do.

Williams’ absence telling

Naturally, the absence of George Williams from the team sheet made hearts sink among the primrose and blue contingent.

As the team’s defacto leader, he was one of the players they would have looked to to start turning things around.

However, his absence through a calf problem was telling as Wire struggled to open up the Salford defence.

It should be said Warrington’s attack was badly off at Wembley with him in the side too but in this game, Salford found things way too easy to telegraph as evidenced by the two interceptions Tim Lafai managed to snaffle.

Another issue creatively was the lack of threat Wire had in terms of kicking from range – an issue that probably wouldn’t be solved by Williams’ return.

Those problems were laid bare by the superb, controlled display of kicking Marc Sneyd delivered to go with the one Harry Smith laid on them last week.

Salford the bogey side again

Salford again proved to be an itch Warrington just cannot scratch.

There were fears among the Wire faithful about coming up against their “bogey side” in the game after Wembley, and it turns out they were right to be trepidatious.

It’s the Red Devils’ third consecutive victory over a Wire side, and one they earned through hard work off the ball and adventure on it.

With Sneyd the masterful orchestrator, powerful centres Macdonald and Lafai caused chaos with their late offloading.

The trio were the undoubted stars surrounded by an excellent supporting cast and they deserved their win.

Alarm bells start to ring

Warrington and Burgess have had things pretty much all their own way before this month of June.

However, this past week in particular will have served to remind Wire’s rookie head coach that this job is a tough one.

You only have to look at some of the reaction to this game to know that the scars of last year’s summer struggles are still very fresh among the Warrington fans.

Despite Burgess’ insistence that this is a new team with a renewed attitude – and the majority of evidence supports that – a lot of the players at his disposal were part of the squad that collapsed so badly in 2023.

A few have already convinced themselves that history is about to repeat itself and while reaching for the panic button would be premature, it is up to Burgess and his squad to prove those people wrong.