Warrington Wolves talking points before St Helens eliminator

Every week from now on could be the last of the season for Warrington Wolves, with their next defeat bringing their campaign to a close.

There are three steps to becoming immortal for this group of players, the first of which is an eliminator clash with St Helens at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Will The Wire make it a quartet of victories over their neighbours this year? Or will it turn out to be another example of why you should never write off the Saints?

Our Wire reporter Matt Turner takes a look at some key talking points ahead of the Saturday teatime showdown...

It’s do-or-die time

The 27-week square dance is over. Now it’s time for the real thing.

Everything Warrington and the five other teams that remain alive have done over the past seven months has led up to this. It’s all about peaking at the right time, and now is very much that.

It’s been a year of undoubted progress for The Wire – no matter what happens on Saturday or indeed beyond, they will finish 2024 a lot closer to their ultimate goal of Super League supremacy than they were this time last year.

However, until it is achieved, there will always be those who remain unconvinced about how well-equipped this group is to take that final step – a look back at the reaction to losing the Challenge Cup Final will tell you as much.

Defeat on Saturday will only make those voices grow louder, but this appears to be a Wire side that is laser-focused.

From now on, every week could be their last of the year. Let’s see just how keen they are to keep things going.

(Image: Neil Ashurst/P&B Pictures)

The shoe is on the other foot this time

This time last year, it was St Helens who blocked Warrington’s route to Old Trafford on the final weekend of September.

On that occasion, a written-off Wire side who had scraped into the play-offs were the visitors to a Saints side who duly dismissed their game challenge.

Now, however, the shoe is on the other foot and it is Warrington who will be heavily favoured to progress to the semi-finals.

Home advantage against a side they have already beaten three times this year and finished 10 points clear of – everything seems to be in their favour.

As they will no doubt be acutely aware of, however, those kinds of games are the most dangerous ones to play in.

St Helens beat Warrington at this stage of the play-offs last year at the Totally Wicked Stadium (Image: SWPix.com)

Wire’s pack is feeling Vaughany

The Warrington squad is in a pretty good spot in terms of health – and they are about to receive a big boost.

Having completed the three-match suspension he was handed following his controversial sending-off at Leigh Leopards last month, Paul Vaughan is available again and is set to take his place in the Wire pack again.

The Australian missed out on the play-offs last year following a stellar 2023 campaign thanks to an even-more-controversial suspension (the less said about that one, the better), so he finally gets a crack at a post-season campaign in England and will have nearly a month’s worth of pent-up frustration to unleash.

Vaughan’s return adds to an already strong pack which is only likely to have Lachlan Fitzgibbon missing, with Joe Philbin set to be fit following a calf injury.

It is now down to Burgess to decide how Vaughan and indeed the rest of his pack will be used, but they are nicer problems to have.

> Wire's middle-unit options analysed as Vaughan return brings a dilemma

Paul Vaughan is available again after suspension (Image: SWPix.com)

Moore under the microscope

Perhaps ironically, Vaughan’s return to action will be in a game officiated by the man who issued the red card that caused so much of a stir.

Liam Moore – widely recognised as the competition’s leading referee – will be the man in the middle on Saturday and will take charge of a Warrington game for the first time since that night in Leigh last month.

From now on, every official will be under the microscope given the warnings of coaches that a continuation of seemingly overzealous officiating will see the fate of seasons and competitions decided on a refereeing decision.

Nobody wants to be talking along those lines, but the reality is that is where the game is and every official taking charge of a game from now on will be acutely aware of that.

First and foremost, though, it is the job of the players to stay on the right side of the line.

Paul Vaughan reacts with astonishment as he is told of his sending-off at Leigh by referee Liam Moore (Image: Neil Ashurst/P&B Pictures)

‘Never write off the Saints’

That line of commentary from the great Eddie Hemmings has been immortalised for many a year, and it rings true to this day.

Indeed, St Helens themselves have adopted it in the build-up to this game, with their social media channels adorned with #NeverWriteUsOff.

Everyone pretty much is – from pundits down to their own supporters – but as so many people connected with Warrington have said this week, that makes this Saints side so dangerous.

While they may have had a poor year, their squad – and indeed their club as a whole – is one that is used to getting the job done at this time of year.

Warrington’s trio of victories over their neighbours this year is not to be sniffed at but as Ben Currie acclaimed after the last of them three weeks ago, that does not get them a trophy.

It is the result of this fourth meeting that will be defining for both clubs.

St Helens finished sixth in the final Super League table (Image: SWPix.com)