WOLVES have been hit by a major blow ahead of Magic weekend with the news that Lee Briers is set to miss out.

Briers limped out of the 40-18 win against Huddersfield Giants in the 67th minute with a hamstring injury and his chances of recovering for Sunday’s Murrayfield clash with Hull KR look slim.

The 30-year-old half back only returned from injury two weeks ago after a thigh strain ruled him out of the Easter weekend defeats to Salford and Castleford.

Since then, he has been instrumental to his side’s upturn in form, helping to orchestrate a stunning 58-22 thumping of Bradford and the follow-up against Giants.

Head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith has several options to replace Briers, with Chris Bridge, Vinnie Anderson, Simon Grix and recent arrival Richie Mathers all having played stand off in the past.

But he has yet to make a decision on what direction to take against the Robins.

“He’s very doubtful, he’s unlikely to make it, which is a shame because he’s been playing well and doing a good job for us. But that’s part and parcel of our game.

“You’re never going to be able to get everyone fit and healthy every week so you’ve got to be able to cope with that.

“It’ll be a big blow if we lose him but that’s something we’ll make a decision on later in the week.

“We haven’t decided on teams yet, we’ve got some ideas and we’ll finalise that by the end of the week.

“Whichever team we go with will be strong and a team capable of doing well this weekend.”

Meanwhile, Briers’ fellow half back Michael Monaghan, who feels his own game improves with the more time he is able to spend developing his on-field relationship with the former Welsh international, believes Wolves are now better equipped to deal with his absence.

“Keeping blokes on the park and with me and Briersy getting some time together makes a difference,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it looks like he’s injured and that’ll probably hinder us again with that. It just seems like every week one of us is in and the other is out.

“But the blokes are playing with a little more confidence now than what we were.

“The more games you win, the better you play and the confidence really starts to pick up.

“For my part, I’ve said all year that the better the team plays the better it is for my game. Confidence really helps.

“I think in the first six to seven weeks of the competition we did play like a team lacking confidence.

“But the wins have improved that although we’ve still got a fair bit of room for improvement in us yet.

“The boys look happy on the pitch and it always helps when you’re winning and competing.

“We’ve had some pretty disappointing losses this year and had some results where we’d been booed off the pitch.

“Winning games certainly lifts your attitude and boosts your enjoyment.

“I think if we play every week like we did against Huddersfield the fans will enjoy their footy but it’s about being consistent and making sure we get that effort every week.”