MATCH PREVIEW: Warrington Wolves vs Leigh Centurions

In a game played on the week of England’s first warm-up match ahead of the World Cup, Warrington will be without five key players as winless Leigh come to town.

On Thursday night under the lights at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington take on Leigh in Round 11 of the Betfred Super League.

The wire will be without five players due to being selected in Shaun Wane’s England squad to take on the combined All-Stars side this Friday night. Those five are Daryl Clark, Joe Philbin, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie and Stefan Ratchford. The former Wigan head coach did also select Toby King, however, he came out of Warrington’s previous match with an injury so he’s been ruled out of contention for both club and country for the foreseeable.

So far this season, Warrington have been going well in the league, despite a Challenge Cup Semi-Final loss at the hands of the Castleford Tigers. Sitting in fourth at the moment is good enough for most people associated with the Wire. After their resilient win away at St Helen’s last time out, playing Leigh on Thursday is a game Warrington will look to win in front of their own fans, to carry on their impressive run.

Hoping to add to Steve Price’s side in the game, will be academy graduates, Morgan Burgess, Riley Dean, Eribe Doro, Jacob Gannon, Ellis Longstaff, Tom Whitehead and Connor Wrench. All have been selected in the matchday squad, and will all be in a bid to impress as most are getting their first taste of first-team action. Riley Dean, along with Ellis Robson have both been recalled from loan spells with York City Knights and Bradford Bulls respectively.

In terms of team news for the visitors. Leigh have kept the squad the same as last week but have had to name an 18-man squad due to three players picking up injuries last weekend against Hull FC.

With having still not won a game this season so far, it’s the best chance the Centurions will get, with Warrington missing some of their key players. It will be interesting to see which angle Leigh take because if the Wolves do go with the youngsters from the start, the more experienced players in the Leigh side, could take a strong foot-hold in the game. However, Wire do still have the halfback pairing of Blake Austin and Gareth Widdop so Leigh will still have a task on their hands if they are to come away with their first win.

Sky Sports will have the coverage for this one on Thursday, and then the following night at the same ground, they will be covering the England match versus the All Stars. The game has led to some uproar from around the league with many teams missing some of their star names. Although if Warrington were full strength, it would be hard to look past them. Now, with those five players missing and six if you include the injured, Toby King, as controversial as this England warm-up match is, it will make for an interesting match in Super League.

 

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