Adam Holroyd keen to grasp every Warrington Wolves chance

And having been given the freedom and confidence to express himself on the field, he feels well placed to take it.

Often billed as “one for the future” since first breaking into the Warrington Wolves first team, the back-rower has demonstrated he is very much one for the here and now having featured in 15 of their 22 matches in all competitions this year.

Of those appearances, 11 have been starts and given his increasingly effective displays within them, more and more people are convinced that when Matty Nicholson leaves for Canberra Raiders at the end of the year, their replacement is right under their nose.

Holroyd, however, is steering clear of thinking long-term.

“Every time I go out there, I’m just trying to play my hardest and next year will look after itself,” he said.

“I’m all short-term at the minute – we’ve got a really good chance to do something this year with the squad we’ve got.

“The confidence comes from the staff – Sam (Burgess), Rich (Marshall) and Gleese (Martin Gleeson) just tell me to go out and do my thing.

“I speak to them a lot about finding my identity at Super League level but they given me the confidence to go out and play how I want to play which is being aggressive, running hard and tackling hard.

“Sam’s been at the pinnacle of the game for the past decade. He’s the role model to have.

“He’s put so much trust in me and I can’t thank him enough for that. The only thing I can do now is take his advice and go out and perform.

“I remember speaking to Sam in the early weeks of pre-season and I was basically asking him what my goals should be. I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my season.

“I was asking about maybe going on loan and spending some time in the Championship because I’ve never played at a lower-grade, but he was really clear in telling me my only goal was being in contention for Round One.

“I ended up being 18th man and just missing out but then played in Round Two until Round Six or Seven. It’s worked out pretty well and I guess I’ve just kicked on from there.

“Lachie (Fitzgibbon) has missed a few weeks, as has Matty Nic so I’m just trying to do the best I can with the time I’ve been given.”

Adam Holroyd during Friday's victory at St Helens (Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

With Holroyd’s last appearance came arguably the high point so far of a senior career that started back in August 2022 as he scored what was effectively the winning try at St Helens on Friday.

After 12-man Warrington had held on through an attempted Saints fightback, their decisive strike for victory stemmed from Holroyd using Matty Ashton as a decoy to power his way over the line for his third senior try, with the other two coming at London Broncos in Round Five.

“Matty gets enough tries – I was never passing that ball,” the 20-year-old joked.

“The two Saints away games have been the highlights of my career so far.

“I was talking to (head of performance) Ade Gardner afterwards and he was saying not many Warrington teams have beaten Saints away in the past few years, let alone twice.

“Getting the try too was nice. As a forward, you don’t get too many so it was an awesome night out.”

Holroyd celebrates the victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium with family members (Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

The seemingly imminent arrival of John Bateman may end up reducing the chances he gets between now and the end of the season – Burgess has been open about not wanting to burn his youngster out – but at the very least, he looks set to keep his place for the trip to Wigan Warriors on Friday.

And his direct opposite on the field is likely to be someone he has grown up playing against in both amateur and age-group rugby league in the shape of Wigan’s towering back-rower Junior Nsemba.

However, Holroyd insists he will not be taking a backward step.

“He’s a big dude,” he said.

“We’ve played against each other a lot growing up – our two amateur teams came up against each other quite a lot.

“I enjoy the challenge – he’s a big, powerful thing but I’ll be going after him this week.

“We’ll see what happens off the back of that but ultimately, I just want to do my job. Hopefully that leads to us getting the two points.

“They’re a team littered with internationals all over the park, and they will be saying the same about us.

“We’ve both been picked to play in Vegas next year and there’s a reason for that – both teams are littered with stars and play exciting rugby.

“It will be a great contest on Friday – they’re the benchmark at the top of the ladder.

“We’ll go out there and play our game because we didn’t in the Challenge Cup Final against them. Our fans know that and everyone who watched knows that.

“We’ll try and bring what we feel like our strengths as a team are.”