Another set of matches in the Super League XXVIII season begins on Thursday evening when two of the bigger clubs meet at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as Warrington Wolves host the Leeds Rhinos in a defining game for both.
Warrington were going along nicely in the opening part of the season but they have completely lost their way in recent times. Leeds too were struggling for form but will hope that their win last week will see them turn the corner.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on both the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena channels with the build-up to the clash beginning at 7.30pm ahead of an 8pm kick off.
Warrington Wolves
After a couple of years of seriously flattering to deceive, it looked like the Warrington Wolves had finally got on track and were going to deliver the sort of campaign a squad with the talent they possess should do. They were blazing a trail at the head of the Super League table and going well in the Challenge Cup and within a matter of a few weeks they no longer lead the way in the Super League, have been dumped out of the cup and are teetering on the edge of falling apart.
Warrington go into this match with just the one win from their last five outings in all competitions and they fell over the line in that game they won too. That has all coincided with the Josh McGuire saga and it might be that his absence in and around the camp has had more than an impact than would have been wanted. In all four of those recent defeats the Wolves were kept below 20 points so if they are going to turn things around then they need to be more potent in attack.
Leeds Rhinos
Prior to last week it was all going wrong for the Leeds Rhinos too with them having lost six of their last seven in all competitions which included the only win in the campaign that the Wakefield Trinity have managed to date. The difference between them and the Warrington Wolves is that the Rhinos didn’t have the fast start to the season to fall back on, which means that for the second campaign in succession they are chasing a strong finish to push for a top six spot.
They began that quest for a fast finish with an emphatic win over Huddersfield Giants last week but the Giants were there in body but certainly not in spirit and were perfect opponents to bounce back against. They will definitely need to show more than that to convince people that they are back on the right track but you can only beat what is in front of you. This will be a much bigger test for them but they certainly can’t be heading to Warrington with any stronger of a confidence boost.
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Team News
Warrington Wolves are going to be without playmaker George Williams for this match but his half-back partner Josh Drinkwater could return from suspension. James Harrison will miss out as he begins a two-match ban.
Leeds Rhinos will be boosted by the availability of Nene MacDonald after he has gone through the concussion protocols while Tom Holroyd is available as well. Cameron Smith is a doubt and Justin Sangare misses out with injury.
Betting
I can’t say I’m overly convinced that the Leeds Rhinos are back just on the basis of a win over a Huddersfield Giants side who were so bad it had to be seen to be believed, but they will at least draw plenty of confidence from that win which the Warrington Wolves aren’t able to from a pretty tame loss to an equally as average if not worse Castleford Tigers last week. They can argue they had a short turnaround in that match but we shouldn’t forget the week before they couldn’t beat 12 men for over 70 minutes.
Both of these teams are flattering to deceive at the minute but Leeds were at least here last season and finished the campaign strongly so they do have that to fall back on. Warrington are struggling to put points on the board and I believe that is down to not having their first choice half-back pairing together. They are not together here whereas Leeds have the spine of their team all in place. It isn’t easy to put faith in either of these teams with what they have delivered over the last 4-6 weeks but at the prices and with a win under their belt it is slightly easier to side with the value which is in the Rhinos at odds against.
Tips
Back Leeds Rhinos to beat Warrington Wolves for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Sky Bet
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