Tony Smith is hopeful Warrington playmaker Lee Briers will be fit for Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final against the Huddersfield Giants.
Wolves coach to nurture playmaker in training this week
Warrington Wolves coach Tony Smith is hopeful playmaker Lee Briers will be fit for Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final against the Huddersfield Giants.
The 34-year-old missed Monday's 15-8 Stobart Super League victory over the Catalan Dragons with an Achilles injury.
Briers started both of the Wolves' Challenge Cup final wins in 2009 and 2010 over Huddersfield and Leeds respectively, winning the Lance Todd Trophy in the latter of those victories.
Smith will not be pushing Briers in training this week, although the former Great Britain coach knows the ex-St Helens man needs some match preparation in order to feature.
Hopeful
When asked if Briers would be fit for Sunday, Smith told
Sky Sports: "Fingers crossed. I'll tell you on game day.
"It's been a matter of nurturing him through training and if we get that right he's able to play. If we don't get it right he comes up short.
"It's a tough one at the moment. He needs to train a certain amount to get himself prepared and get the team prepared, but at the same time if he overdoes it he's no good on game day.
"It's a fine line. We're hopeful. We're hopeful that because he hasn't played in games in the past couple of weeks that he may be able to make it. I won't be able to tell you for definite until Sunday afternoon."
Form
Huddersfield have lost seven of their last eight in league action, including a 52-6 loss at Castleford last week, although Smith is expecting the Giants to be back at their best this weekend.
"Huddersfield's form isn't at their best, but as we know in sport, it only takes one week to turn that around," he continued.
"I'm expecting a really big performance from Huddersfield. I trip to Wembley is massive, if not the biggest thing in our sport. I'm expecting both teams to go right at it on Sunday afternoon."
