ENOUGH talk of Las Vegas, there's a game to be played...
Focus must switch back to the here and now for Warrington Wolves as they aim to avoid being caught up in the bright lights before the time actually comes.
A second home game in the space of six days is upon them as they prepare to welcome Leeds Rhinos to The Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Two points will move them - for 24 hours at least - into standalone second place, so will they take their chance?
Our Wire reporter Matt Turner picks out five key talking points surrounding the game below...
A game we’d all forgotten about?
This has probably been the strangest build-up to a game in a long while.
In what is a shortened game week, pretty much all of the focus has been on a match that isn’t happening for another 234 days.
Naturally, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the upcoming trip to face Wigan Warriors in Las Vegas and as such, it feels like this game has almost been forgotten about.
Now the dust has settled on Tuesday’s seismic announcement, however, focus switches back to the here and now.
With so much still to play for, the bright light city will have to wait.
A small sense of déjà vu…
This will be Warrington’s second meeting with Leeds of the season, and much of their preparation is similar to the first.
Before their trip to Headingley in April, the build-up centred around how they would cope with the sudden absence of three front-line props – Zane Musgrove and Joe Philbin were injured while Paul Vaughan was suspended.
The answer was emphatic, with Wire running out 34-8 winners.
This time around, injuries have eaten away at their squad depth in another area of the field with the outside-backs now depleted due to injuries suffered by Toby King, Connor Wrench and Josh Thewlis.
Their “next man up” mantra is going to be tested again – how will they respond?
How will Wire adjust in the outside backs?
For an 8pm kick off, confirmed team news usually drops in at around 6.30pm and among Wire fans, most eyes will be on the three-quarter line.
It may not look as thrown together as the one that finished the victory over Huddersfield Giants, but it will be quite a way from being first-choice.
Much depends on whether or not Matty Ashton is deemed fit enough to return from a back injury – a prospect that was still considered doubtful earlier in the week.
Either way, it looks as if one or both of Arron Lindop and Cai Taylor-Wray will get a chance to shine, with the academy stars firmly in contention.
That would leave Rodrick Tai and Stefan Ratchford in the centres and with King out for a few weeks, that is likely to be how it stays for a while.
Will Leeds get a “new coach bounce?”
Since dispensing with Rohan Smith’s services last month, Leeds Rhinos have won both of their matches in differing circumstances.
A wave of Headingley emotion in their first home game since the great Rob Burrow’s passing carried them to victory over Leigh Leopards, while there was barely a flicker of response to them limping past London Broncos via golden point at the weekend.
Now, though, they have a new man at the helm and while he won’t be officially in charge on Thursday, Brad Arthur is set to be at The Halliwell Jones Stadium to get his first look at his new charges.
With the new head coach in the stands, will that bring out an extra few per cent in the Rhinos players?
It is certainly something Warrington will have to be wary of at the very least.
An important two points given what is to come
In advance of the trip to Hull FC before the international break, a real opportunity stood in front of Warrington.
With all due respect to the Black and Whites, Huddersfield and Leeds, these were three fixtures in which six points were paramount.
They have four and now, it’s time to finish the job.
Round 16 was kind to them in that they won while teams around them slipped up, allowing the chasing pack behind leaders Wigan to bunch up again with Wire alongside St Helens, Hull KR and Salford on 22 points.
For all of their perceived struggles, Leeds are just four points behind despite being outside of the play-off spots so a victory on Thursday will extend their cushion over them.
With their next three games after this one being St Helens away, Wigan away and Hull KR at home, any pressure Warrington can take off themselves going into that run is welcome.
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