Matty Ashton credits defence for Warrington's attacking spark

And as Warrington Wolves head into the play-offs, they can be heartened to know that one of their key attacking weapons is in quite possibly the best form of his career.

Back-to-back hat-tricks have taken his incredible run of touch-downs to 16 in his past 11 Super League games, taking him to 21 in the league overall – his highest total since joining The Wire in 2020.

Before that run started, he had scored just five tries in his previous 12 games, so has anything changed to suddenly start the seemingly unstoppable run of tries?

“I can’t get those tries without my teammates putting me away, so that’s testament to how far the team has come this year,” he said.

“Our attack has come on really well and it’s nice to be finishing them off. I don’t think anything’s necessarily changed.

“We know we’re a team that’s going to score points but it comes from the way we defend.

“The better we are defensively, the more opportunities we’re going to get the ball in attacking positions.

“That’s what we’ve been focusing on and once we are in attacking positions, we know we’re a team that can score points from anywhere.”

The result of his electric form is a place in the Super League Dream Team for the first time alongside Wire teammates Matt Dufty and Danny Walker.

He was named as one of the wingers alongside Wigan Warriors’ Liam Marshall – the only man to score more Super League tries than him this year – and he admits the news came as something of a shock.

“It was a real surprise to be honest,” he said.

“These kinds of individual awards don’t go through my head too much as I’m so focused on creating history for the team, but it was a really nice moment.

“Being surrounded by the lads when I heard as well was really special.”

Ashton is presented with his Dream Team shirt by Paul Sculthorpe (Image: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com) As the flyer mentions, however, the individual recognition would sit an awful lot better alongside the achievement of team goals as the road to the Grand Final begins in earnest.

They now enter every week knowing it could be their last, with St Helens the visitors to The Halliwell Jones Stadium for an eliminator tie on Saturday.

Victory would take the lifelong Manchester United fan a step closer to achieving a dream.

“I’ve dreamt of Old Trafford since I was a kid, so that won’t change,” he said.

“It’s do or die now. These are the games you work hard in pre-season to play in.

“We’re looking to put in a good performance this weekend to kickstart our play-off campaign hopefully.

“The HJ is going to be rocking, it will be a great Saturday night and both teams are going to bring their best – I can’t wait.

“Nothing changes for us – Saints have shown they can do it on the top stage and we’re looking to knock them off it.

“We’re expecting a massive challenge but it’s one I’m really excited for.”