George Williams set to make Warrington debut against the Leeds Rhinos

Leeds emerged from The Halliwell Jones Stadium with the two points just a few weeks ago. They will look to replicate that performance as former Wigan Warriors man George Williams is set to make his Super League return.

Covid has been incredibly disruptive to the Super League season, and has consequently led to immense fixture congestion. This means that 72 hours from their win at Hull FC, Leeds will be in action once again. Warrington meanwhile, had a long hiatus thanks to a Covid outbreak, but they themselves are playing their second game in four days as they make the trip to Emerald Headingley. 

Leeds will be without Callum McLelland following a bruising 80 minutes at then KCOM stadium on Thursday, he will be out for a week meaning he’ll also miss the Castleford game. 

It is now also confirmed that Alex Mellor’s season is over after rupturing his MCL. Whilst the MCL is not as serious a rupture as an ACL, it will sideline him for a few months, unfortunately, Leeds fans won’t see Mellor in action until 2022. 

Speaking on the progress of Jack Walker, Agar stated that he felt as if Jack ‘could have done a bit more’ at the start of his rehabilitation process, but is now working extremely hard to get back out there, with an estimation of around 6 weeks being made. 

The headlines of course will be dominated by George Williams and his return to the Super League, and it has been confirmed by Warrington that he is indeed set to make his Wire debut. 

Williams spent six years at his hometown club the Wigan Warriors, making 178 appearances scoring 61 tries. An academy product, George rose through the ranks at the DW and became a regular for Wigan aged just 19 during the 2014 season. He went on to win two Super League titles and one World Club Challenge, before in 2019 deciding to take a new step in his career. 

In the summer of 2019, Wigan Warriors announced that George Williams would leave the club at the end of the season, moving to NRL side Canberra Raiders. Williams would go on to do well down under, making 32 appearances, scoring 11 tries and playing in the NRL play-offs. However, Williams was released form his contract in May 2021 with home-sickness outlined as the reasoning for this. 

As many clubs did, Leeds prepared a bid for him but it quickly became apparent that George was not willing to play in Yorkshire, ruling Leeds out of the equation. Eventually, Williams’ move to Warrington became the worst kept secret in Rugby League. On the 8th of July, his move to the Wire was confirmed. 

Having not played for months, Wire fans will be itching to see how Williams gets on, and indeed how many of the 80 minutes he will play. 

Speaking to Prost International, Richard outlined the difficulties of playing three days after the previous game, stating that there is ‘very little time’ to do any kind of meaningful preparation- 

‘There is very little time to do any kind of meaningful work with the players, we have mainly focused on rest and recovery and have had a look at Warrington, but that’s about it really.’ 

When asked about whether there were any difficulties with keeping everyone motivated with the effects Covid are having, Richard said this- 

‘There can be if you let there be. It’s been difficult for everyone to adjust to this way of life, but it’s the world we live in now. The players and all the staff know all of the routines by now, and we just prepare for every game with the mindset that the match is going ahead. Of course it’s tough for the boys when a game gets called off after working so hard, but we just make sure we put that aside and go again for the next game.’ 

This game has massive implications for the play-off picture, with Leeds knowing a win would take them into the top six. For Warrington, its about closing the gap to St.Helens and the Catalan Dragons in the hunt for the home semi-final. 

It is set to be a cracker, and with full capacity crowds back, expect a raucous Headingley stadium for this titanic fixture. 

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