Warrington Wolves selection calls for London Broncos trip

With no new injuries reported as of yet and with at least three players set to come back into contention, the squad is looking healthy ahead of the trip to London Broncos on Sunday.

Here, we have a look at some of the key selection calls the Wire head coach has in store for the Round 21 clash in the capital…

The Bateman problem

This one will probably dominate team selection for a little while yet.

After Bateman made his Wire debut from the bench in the loss to Hull KR on Friday, Burgess admitted it may take some time for the England international’s role within his squad to be fully figured out.

He is adept in several positions but in all of them – back-row, loose forward and centre – the squad is already well-stocked.

The short-term nature of the deal probably dictates that Bateman will be in the team whenever he is available, but will we get any closer to understanding where he will play moving forwards?

As Burgess alludes to, we probably won’t get the full answer on Sunday but the next point of discussion could lead to him playing a more defined role for at least this week.

John Bateman could make his first start for Wire (Image: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)

Who – if anyone – gets a rest?

After Friday’s game, Burgess admitted some of his players “looked tired” in the loss to Hull KR and that some of them could be in for a rest.

Collectively, the team have been given time off this week, but Burgess may give certain players a breather especially given several others are due to come back into contention.

Toby King and Joe Philbin are both set to feature after recovering from injury – Lachlan Fitzgibbon could also do the same – while James Harrison is available again after suspension.

Add the desire to give Bateman more of a crack at finding his spot in the side and it could mean that some front-liners are left out this week.

That said, however, there is still a game to win against an opponent who must be given the utmost respect.

The desire to manage players’ workloads has to be balanced with the fact the margin for error is now much slimmer if they want to finish inside the top two.

Toby King is set to return from a hamstring injury (Image: SWPix.com)

What happens to the youngsters?

Given what has been outlined above, it is entirely plausible that youngsters Adam Holroyd and Arron Lindop may be the ones to lose their spots in the side.

Burgess has often spoken about the dangers of “over-exposing” his young players, and both have played comfortably more than they would have expected to this year.

Holroyd in particular has played a lot of rugby of late and has been seen with heavy strapping on his shoulder while it is easy to forget that Lindop, who has started the past four matches, only started as a full-time member of the squad around eight weeks ago.

If they do indeed come out of the side, Burgess will no doubt be keen to emphasise that it is nothing to do with their performances – both can justifiably argue that they deserve to stay in the side – but more to do with their own protection.

Adam Holroyd scored twice against London earlier this year (Image: SWPix.com)