The second week of action in the Super League begins with the two teams who claimed silverware last season doing battle when the Warrington Wolves host St Helens in what is always a standout fixture of any season.
The Wolves were beaten in their opening match last week while it was like St Helens haven’t been away with the ease their won their curtain raiser with so it will be interesting to see if that form continues or if there is a twist in the tale.
Warrington Wolves
The Warrington Wolves put up a decent showing against the Wigan Warriors last week, but given that they were down to 12 men from the first-half onwards it is hard to have expected them to win the game. It was only late on that Wigan saw out the match though so there was certainly little wrong with the Wolves’ defence. We need to see more from them in attacking areas but we can’t really judge that until we see them with 13 men on the field throughout.
If there was a criticism of them it would come in their kicking game which just looked a little loose and by the end of that clash at the DW Stadium, they were probably looking a little predictable, albeit when fatigue was probably setting into their legs. We should get a much clearer indication of where they are at in this match, but my gut feeling is we are going to need to see an overall improvement from them.
St Helens
There were no such problems for the Saints last week. They took 15-20 minutes to get into their stride but once they did their title defence got off to the perfect start. They were rampant against the Salford Red Devils and looked to be enjoying themselves, and if they are to come on for the run, which can so often happen over the course of a season like this, that was very much a statement performance from the champions.
The real sign of how good St Helens were last week comes in the form of the fact that you couldn’t actually decide what was more impressive, their startling and dazzling attacking play, or their mite and determination in defence. I guess you could argue that Salford didn’t test it as much as they could have done, but there was a reason for that – Saints just looked awesome. That was at home though so this should be more of a challenge.
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Team News
The Warrington Wolves will be without their captain Chris Hill, who begins a three-match suspension for his sending off at Wigan last week. There was a hope that Gareth Widdop would be fit but he hasn’t need named in the 19 ahead of the game.
St Helens have dynamic forward Morgan Knowles back for this match but they are going to have to do without Lachlan Coote, who has a medial knee ligament injury. Jonny Lomax is expected to fill in at full-back.
Betting
We’ll see just what the Warrington Wolves have got to offer here but I sense we’re not going to see the best of them until they have Gareth Widdop up and firing so my money is going to be on St Helens in this match. The absence of Chris Hill is another reason not to like the Warrington Wolves here and with St Helens likely to be out for revenge for that Challenge Cup final defeat last season, I can’t help but back the visitors here.
Warrington went well on defence last week, which should be acknowledged, but there are levels between the Wigan Warriors attack and this St Helens one and I’m not convinced the Wolves will be able to contain the Saints. It then comes down to whether Warrington have it in them to put up a significant amount of points themselves and I’m just not convinced enough that they do. I’ll take Saints to cover four points at even money.
Tips
Back St Helens (-4) to beat Warrington Wolves for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
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