AMONG the biggest plus points of a positive campaign for Warrington Wolves has been the rise of the next wave of young talent coming through their ranks.

And perhaps the most impressive part of what the likes of Arron Lindop and Cai Taylor-Wray have shown at Super League level is their lack of prior exposure to the first-team environment.

Warringtonian outside back Lindop has been the club’s breakout star of 2024 having made a try-scoring senior debut in the Round One defeat to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan at the age of just 17 after signing a long-term professional contract.

He has gone on to make a further seven appearances and score another three tries, all of which were against neighbours Wigan Warriors to further endear himself to the fans of his hometown club.

Lindop has been joined in the first team by his fellow academy graduate Taylor-Wray, who made his second senior appearance in the recent victory at London Broncos.

The livewire full-back has been tipped for a bright future alongside Lindop and when they have their first full pre-season as first-team players under their belts, head coach Sam Burgess says they will be better equipped to make a lasting impact.

“Cai’s not had a pre-season with us, neither did Lindop to be fair,” he said.

“Neither of them did the full pre-season, Cai probably less so – Lindop did one day a week.

“They’ve only really been drafted in as a full part of us in the past three months so considering that, it’s a remarkable effort from them.

“They’ll both have big pre-seasons and will feature in dominant positions during the pre-season, so they’re only going to be more robust and physically developed.

“Their rugby brains will develop as well and that’s their challenge.

“They’re both very gifted young men and their careers are ahead of them, but their challenge now is to get their heads down and get the hard work done.”

The rise of Lindop and Taylor-Wray will no doubt remind Burgess of his own start in the game.

Like Lindop, he too was 17 when he made his Super League debut for Bradford Bulls and took the English game by storm before going on to enjoy a glittering NRL career with South Sydney Rabbitohs.

As such, he is well-placed to advise his young charges when it comes to navigating life in the spotlight as a young star.

However, he insists the environment the club is creating for them means he may not have to.

“I was asked earlier about how you’re going to manage these kids through the spotlight because you had that, but I won’t do that – our culture will,” he said.

“The group and the environment we’re creating will manage them in the right way. That’s how I was managed through it.

“There will be times when I’ll have to step in but in the main, I won’t need to do that.

“We’ve got a good group of blokes that have been there and done it.”