Warrington Wolves 2024 season review; June highlights

As such, we’ll be conducting a month-by-month review of The Wire’s first campaign under the charge of head coach Sam Burgess over the coming weeks.

READ MORE > Check our reviews of February and March, April and May

Today, we look at June – a month that will be remembered largely for the wrong reasons…

THIS is probably the month we’ve wanted to review the least…

There was heartbreak at Wembley and a hangover thereafter as the work Warrington had done to that point threatened to come crashing down.

In all, The Wire lost three of their four games in June, although the first of them was arguably the most palatable defeat for some time.

Burgess and his Wigan counterpart Matt Peet had the weird scenario of their two sides meeting each other in Super League a week before they would step out at Wembley for the Challenge Cup Final, so the respective approaches to team selection were always going to be interesting.

Peet opted for a balanced approach, with some of his star men remaining involved while others rested, but Warrington opted almost universally for self-preservation and made 12 changes to the 17 that beat Catalans Dragons last time out.

Four senior debuts were given as youngsters and fringe players came to the fore, and the much-changed Wire side came agonisingly close to pulling off a seismic upset as they were edged out by just a single point.

Arron Lindop touches down for Wire against Wigan in Round 13 as a youthful, much-changed side is edged out by a single point (Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com) Of course, Burgess knew his approach would only have been deemed successful had his side won at Wembley the following week, thereby delivering a trophy at the earliest possible stage in his tenure.

As we all know, however, their day in North London did not go to plan as The Wire came down with a colossal dose of stage fright.

The Wigan winning machine did not even have to hit top gear to leave Wembley with the Challenge Cup as Warrington saved perhaps their worst performance of the campaign to date for the game in which it really mattered.

A game that saw both teams have men put in the sin bin inside the opening five minutes was blown open by two Wigan tries in the space of four minutes midway through the first half, and Warrington never really recovered.

By the time Matt Dufty ensured they would at least avoid leaving Wembley try-less, Wigan already had one hand on the trophy.

A dejected George Williams in the aftermath of the Wembley defeat (Image: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com) It was a heartbreaking afternoon which Burgess insisted his players, many of whom were playing in a final for the very first time, would learn from.

However, there were signs in the weeks that followed that it was a defeat that was going to take some getting over.

Their return to Super League action saw them come unstuck against Salford again as the Red Devils continued to be a bogey side.

A nightmare first half saw them fall 19-0 down and despite a brief second-half flurry, they never really looked like reeling their visitors in and succumbed to a 25-14 defeat to make it three losses in succession in all competitions.

The post-Wembley loss to Salford made it three defeats in a row in all competitions for Wire (Image: SWpix.com) All of a sudden, things were getting tough and questions were starting to be asked about Wire’s ability to sustain their promising start, with plenty of fans spotting a similar kind of iceberg that had sank them the previous year.

A response in their trip to Hull FC was imperative – they did not really get one in terms of performance, but Matt Dufty managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat with a superb late winner to allow them to leave Humberside with a somewhat fortunate 24-18 victory from a game that saw their completion rate down at an abysmal 47 per cent.

They had used their “get out of jail free” card to stop the bleeding ahead of a two-week international break, which arguably came at the best possible time.

Wire were victorious at Hull FC in Round 15 despite an error-strewn display (Image: SWpix.com)

Warrington Wolves results, June 2024

Saturday 1...Wigan Warriors (H) - lost 19-18

Saturday 8…Wigan Warriors (Challenge Cup Final) - lost 18-8

Friday 14…Salford Red Devils (H) - lost 25-14

Saturday 22…Hull FC (A) - won 24-18