SAM Burgess was full of praise for his Warrington Wolves players both individually and collectively after their dramatic play-off victory over St Helens.

He was particularly effusive in his praise for George Williams, who made the game-breaking contribution by kicking the winning drop goal in golden-point extra time to secure The Wire’s first play-off victory since 2018.

They will now travel to Hull KR on Friday in the semi finals and Burgess insists his side will need to improve upon their performance if they are to pass such a test and reach Old Trafford.

Here is everything the Wire boss said in his post-match press conference…

Q: Have you just about got your breath back after that?

SB: Yeah I have. There were a lot of emotions during that game.

We weren’t at our best early and we’re facing a champion side who have been here and done it plenty of times before.

They had us in the first half, but a couple of players helped change that for us in the second half and we were strong enough to come over and get the win.

It was a lot of emotions to go through in the 85 minutes we played.

Q: You’ve been involved in some incredible games in your career – was that up there in terms of a spectacle?

SB: Maybe not as a head coach!

We had a couple of opportunities to close the game out but we’ll take a lot out of tonight, mainly the win but there’s a couple of bits of detail we can look at that.

We’ve learnt again and we’re going to have to be better on Friday over at Hull.

Q: What did you feel like you had to change at half time?

SB: We were losing the physicality – that’s been Saints’ trademark over the past five or six years and they were beating us to the punch with it.

We were losing the field position battle and we weren’t making great choices.

We could have been better but we went in at 16-10 thanks to George, who came up with a great play before half time.

He had a wonderful game – he’s had a great year but some of his moments tonight even excluding the drop goal were wonderful.

Q: And I guess those kinds of moments are why you have players like him in your team?

SB: He’s worth every penny on nights like tonight.

He’s such a great bloke – I’ve played with him for a number of years so I know what he’s about, and I’m glad he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck tonight.

He laid on a couple of tries and finished it off with the field goal.

Q: With the way you came back and won that game, is that the kind of character and mentality that wins Grand Finals?

SB: I’ve seen the character of the group all year, so I’m not surprised by it.

They never, ever stop trying to win and that’s led by George, who’s a very competitive guy.

I don’t think tonight lifts the trophy for us, so we’ve got to get better.

Q: What does your week look like from here on in then before Hull KR?

SB: We start again on Monday.

The guys have got to recover big time – we were talking among the staff that we’ll get a read on how the players pull up before deciding how the week looks, but not much will change with the content.

We’ll maybe give them an extra day if you need it.

Q: A word for your fans as well – the atmosphere was bouncing in here so do you feel that played its part in getting you over the line?

SB: I thought they were outstanding – what a great way to leave the Halliwell Jones for the year.

The boys were enjoying it that much they were wanting to go to golden point!

What a great stadium to play at – it’s a great atmosphere when it’s full. The Saints fans were great but with our fans, seeing that stand full was great to see.

It was great to finish the year in that sort of way here.

Q: What was going through your head when Mark Percival slots that conversion at the end?

SB: I’d sent a message down to get the guys ready for golden point as he’d kicked great all night.

I’ve played with Percy so I know he likes those moments. I backed him more to kick it than miss it so I expected it to go over.

I daresay that was the calmest we were as coaches in the box, and the players regrouped well after it and managed to execute.

Q: Hull KR next week – do you have to step your performance up from tonight?

SB: We have to improve on a few things as we were just a bit off in a couple of areas.

We’re certainly going to have to improve.