T'Other Side: Warrington Wolves

T’Other Side: Warrington Wolves

 

 

Head Coach: Tony Smith

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the Warrington players this being their first match since it was announced that Tony Smith will be leaving at the end of the season.

 

Although Warrington have had a difficult season this year, Tony Smith’s record as a head coach in England has been remarkable. He took over at Huddersfield Giants in 2001 at a time when they were perennial wooden spooners in Super League. Although they were relegated in his first year, he rebuilt the club and by the time he left took them to 7th in Super League, their best performance up until then. He then became head coach at Leeds Rhinos and quickly re-established them as one of the very top teams in the country with two Super League Championships and the winning of the World Club Challenge. Before he arrived at Warrington in March 2009, the Wolves had spent most of the time since 1996 in the bottom half of the Super League table, but with Tony Smith at the helm they twice took the league leaders shield and won the Challenge Cup three times. Between coaching at Leeds and Warrington he became head coach of the England team.

 

He began his playing career in the NRL first with Illawarra Steelers and then with the Saint George Dragons. He was mainly a stand-off and in 1996 he came to play for Workington, who were in Super League at that time.

 

Captain: Chris Hill

 

Fev supporters will remember many battles with Chris Hill when he was one of the very best prop forwards in the Championship, playing for Leigh. He began his career with them in 2005 as an eighteen year old and spent seven seasons with them before joining Warrington in 2012, making the step-up to Super League. Tony Smith made him the Warrington captain at the beginning of last season.

 

On becoming a Super League player he very quickly became an England international and has played seventeen times for England.

 

At the back

 

Ryan Atkins comes from Pudsey and started his playing career with Bradford Bulls in 2005, moving the following year to Wakefield where he spent four years before signing for Warrington in 2010. To date he has played for the Wolves 239 times and scored 153 tries. Good as he is at scoring tries, he is also renowned as a very solid player in defence. He has 8 England caps. Winger, Tom Lineham, is also a Yorkshireman and started his rugby career at York RU before switching to the City Knights in 2009. After two years there he was signed by Hull FC and stayed there until Warrington signed him in 2016. He is the Wolves top try scorer this year with 21 tries from 27 appearances. The fullback position is usually filled by Stefan Ratchford, although he can play in the centre or at stand-off. He joined Warrington in 2012 after spending 5 years at Salford. Although not the first choice this year, he is a good goal kicker. He has played for both England Knights and the full England team.

 

In the Halves

 

Kevin Brown joined Warrington this year from Widnes. He was born in Saint Helens but began his career with Wigan in 2003. In 2006 he joined Huddersfield and moved on to Widnes in 2013. He can play in either halfback position but is more often used as a stand-off. In 2010 he played four times for England but then, surprisingly, had to wait until 2016 to get another chance. Aussie, Kurt Gidley, joined Warrington last year after making 251 appearances in the NRL for Newcastle Knights. He is retiring at the end of this season. Warrington have used him as a scrum-half, fullback and as a hooker. He has played 12 origin games for New South Wales and also 12 for the Australian test team. As Kurt Gidley’s career is winding down, Dec Patton is beginning to establish himself as a starting halfback and as the Wolves first choice goal kicker. He made his debut as a 20 year old in 2015 and has spent time on dual-reg with North Wales Crusaders in 2015 and with Rochdale Hornets in 2016. This year he has played 26 times for the Wolves, all bar one in the starting team.

 

In the Pack

 

One of the surprises of 2017 has been the consistently excellent performances of Frenchman Benjamin Jullien in the second row for Warrington. After beginning his career with Avignon in the French Elite, he then spent time in Australia with Brisbane Broncos but did not feature in the first grade for them. After the end of the French season in 2015 he joined North Wales Crusaders and then Warrington signed him in 2016 and that year he also played for Rochdale on dual reg.. Having begun primarily as a centre he is definitely now regarded as a strong running and tackling second row. He has played for 5 times for France. Too some people’s surprise comes the news that André Savelio was born in England and brought up in Warrington, his father being Lokeni Savelio, who played for a number of English clubs including Salford and Workington. André started his career with Saint Helens in 2014. Last year he had a loan spell with Castleford Tigers. In 2018 he will be off to Australia to join Brisbane Broncos. One of the most recognisable players in Super League is Warrington prop forward, Ashton Sims. Before joining Warrington in 2015 he had played in the NRL for Saint George, Brisbane and North Queensland Cowboys. He is a Fiji international. He comes from a real rugby league family, brothers Tariq and Korbin play in the NRL and are also Fiji internationals and sister Ruan has played for the Australian women’s team.

 

 

The Fev Connection

There are no players in the current Warrington and Fev squads who have played for both clubs.

Since the 1990s the following have played for both:

Danny Bridge, Dale Cardoza, Garreth Carvell, Andy Currier, Anthony England, Iestyn Harris, Francis Maloney, Steve Molloy, Stuart Reardon, Brendon Tuuta and Paul Wood.