Super League: Warrington Wolves v Huddersfield Giants preview
Last Updated: 29/08/14 9:05am
Huddersfield Giants can leapfrog Warrington Wolves in the Super League table with success at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday.
Super League is back this week following the Tetley’s Challenge Cup final break and there is all to play for with only one point separating the second and sixth-place club.
Warrington are currently fourth and while the Giants are in sixth spot they are level on points with Tony Smith’s men with 32.
The Wolves have an excellent recent record against their West Yorkshire opponents, winning their last six in the league while also toppling them in last season’s playoffs on home soil.
With just three rounds of the Super League season remaining defeat is almost certain to end the losing team’s prospects of piping St Helens to the League Leaders’ Shield.
Scrum-half Richie Myler is set to return for Warrington after being dropped for their last game while Gene Ormsby is due to return on the wing, with Joel Monaghan switching to centre in place of the injured Chris Bridge.
Second-rower Ben Currie is set to take the place of Simon Grix after he turned an ankle in training but there is still no place for out-of-form prop Roy Asotasi.
Performing well
"We'll finish where we deserve to finish and so will Saints," said Smith. "Really it's about my team performing well this week. Huddersfield are sitting there or thereabouts with us.
"They are a good team but have probably gone under the radar a little bit throughout the season. They've not been talked about so much.
"Huddersfield and us have been sitting behind the other four until these last few weeks and, all of a sudden, we're sitting on top of one another, which shows that we haven't been too bad."
Huddersfield have suffered two late injury blows, with the loss of centre Joe Wardle with a hamstring problem and second-rower Brett Ferres with a dead leg.
However, Leroy Cudjoe comes back after a three-match absence with a hip injury to take over from Wardle and Aaron Murphy keeps his place in the other centre spot. Utility forward David Faiumu and second-rower Jacob Fairbank are vying for Ferres' spot.
"Our focus is to win the next three games," said Giants head coach Paul Anderson. "They've been in a major final each year for goodness knows how long so they're a benchmark team.
"They're a good club with a winning mentality and we'll challenge that on Thursday. They're above us in the table so we've got to make sure by the end of tomorrow we're above them."
Warrington Wolves: Atkins, Currie, England, R. Evans, Grix, Harrison, Higham, Hill, Laithwaite, J. Monaghan, M. Monaghan, Myler, O'Brien, Ormsby, Ratchford, Russell, Waterhouse, Westwood, Wood.
Huddersfield Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Murphy, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Lunt, Kopczak, Ferres, Bailey, Lawrence, Patrick, Faiumu, Ta'ai, Broughton, Kaufusi, Mullally.
Don't miss any of the action from the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday as Warrington Wolves tackle Huddersfield Giants live on Sky Sports 1 from 7.30pm
