MATT Dufty turned out to be Warrington Wolves' Magic man at Elland Road - but it very nearly turned out differently.

Indeed, head coach Sam Burgess says he was minded to remove his full-back from the field just after half time after he took a heavy knock to his knee in the first half.

Dufty looked in some pain after emerging from a tackle holding his right knee, which had to be heavily strapped as he hobbled away to the right wing.

He looked laboured for a while but ended up running in a decisive hat-trick to allow The Wire to leave Magic Weekend with a 24-6 victory.

While he managed to finish the game, Burgess says Dufty will be assessed ahead of the visit to Castleford Tigers on Friday.

"We nearly brought him off about five minutes into the second half," Burgess said.

"Something happened and play stopped for a while, so we decided to get him a bit further into the game, then as play went on he warmed up a bit.

"He’ll be sore tomorrow and we’ll see where he’s at this week."

While no injuries were picked up during the game, Burgess was once again without second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.

He has been on the verge of returning for a while having not played since the win over Huddersfield Giants last month, but Burgess says he will now be given more time to fully recover.

However, he was keen to dismiss fears that Fitzgibbon's season could be over.

"We’re giving him another couple of weeks just to take the pressure off him," he said.

"He’s trying to play every week and it can be a bit of a rollercoaster. He was never quite getting there so we’ll take the heat off him.

"He’ll have another couple of weeks to really attack a bit more pre-hab. There’s no rush with him as we have a healthy squad at the moment, so there’s no point in taking a risk with him.

"We’ll definitely see him before the end of the year."

Burgess also confirmed prop Joe Philbin missing out on the game was a selection call, with Adam Holroyd and Max Wood also dropping out of the 17.

"This was my hardest 17 to select," he said.

"People like Adam Holroyd, Joe Philbin, Max Wood and a few others all missed out – it was a tough team to pick."