WOLVES face a serious test of their physical and mental endurance as they embark on a gruelling run of three games in eight days.

Tony Smith’s side kick off their testing Easter schedule with a trip to Salford on Friday, kick off 3pm, quickly followed by a clash with Castleford at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Monday, kick off 3pm.

After facing those challenges, the players will barely have chance to draw breath before taking on Bradford at Odsal the following Friday.

Head of coaching and rugby Smith is well aware of the difficulty posed by the task ahead, although he knows his team will be setting themselves up for a fall if they begin to look too far ahead.

He said: “It’s three games in quick succession. We have three games in eight days so it’s not just the Easter, it’s the one after Easter that kills a lot of clubs and a lot of players.

“But it is what it is and you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and get on with it.

“We’ll look forward to it. We’ll just deal with the first one and after that we’ll turn our attention very swiftly to the second one and then very swiftly again to the third.

“This week all the focus is on Salford though.

“It’s a big test of endurance and recovery but it’ll be a good challenge.

“Looking to Friday, Salford are a tough team. They’ll be looking for a win on the back of a good win against Hull last week, so they’ll be confident, they’ll be desperate and they’ll be hungry for it.

“So we’ve got to be ready for that and prepared to rise above it.”

Saturday’s 56-10 Challenge Cup round four win against York was Wolves’ third in a row, helping to restore confidence further after starting the season on a five-game losing streak.

Smith can see the belief returning in the attitudes of his players but insists Wolves are still very much a work in progress.

He said: “Some of the systems we’ve got in place and some of the way we’re working for each other is coming in place now.

“We’re not 100 per cent yet and it’ll take a bit of time before we are but we’re getting there.

“We’re happy with our progress and we’ll keep working on that and when we get there and we’re really satisfied we’ll have another challenge, it doesn’t stop.”

* After Steven Hayward was sacked by Castleford last week following his conviction for assault, speculation is growing that Wolves may take the same course of action with Stuart Reardon.

It is an option open to the club after the 27-year-old full back recently pleaded guilty to assaulting his estranged wife.

The charge relates to an incident at a flat in Clayton Heights, Bradford, in July last year, which also involved Saints star Leon Pryce, who pleaded guilty to assaulting Kay Reardon’s boyfriend, Damon O’Brien.

Reardon is due back in court for sentencing on April 23.