Tony Smith, the Warrington coach who has guided his side to two of the last three Grand Finals, believes the reduction of teams from 14 to 12 is the reason why this is proving the most competitive start to a Super League in years.
After 12 rounds the Wolves find themselves lodged in the middle of a tight division where two wins could break into the top four, but two or three losses could dump a team in the bottom four.
“It’s usually after Easter when the table starts to sort itself out, but with the reduction of two teams, I don’t think it will be too obvious for a long while,” said Smith. “When you have 14 teams it’s fairly obvious who is going to finish where, but this year with 12 it’s tougher.
“The player pools are tougher and stronger too. We had a strong competition at 12 a few years ago, then we foolishly went out to 14 teams and it took away the real competition between teams. Bringing it back means that the competition in most games is well and truly back.”
Competition is indeed fierce. Six wins and six defeats is far from the return many expected from Warrington’s opening 12 games, though Smith is adamant that his side are slowly starting to hit their straps with last Friday’s win against Leeds, the league leaders, an indication of that.
They are aiming for a third win in four on Sunday at home to Widnes. “Our new structures have taken a bit of time to bed in, and we’ve had some variations in our half-back pairings throughout the season,” he said. “We’re not too far away at the moment. We’ve got a bit to improve on and we will keep getting better. There’s lots more improvement to come from us. We’ve got people returning over the next few weeks and we’ll have more competition for places when that happens.”
They will be wary of the Widnes captain, Kevin Brown, singled out by Smith as the key opponent. “Out of anyone playing at the moment I think he’s the most influential player of any team in the league,” he said. “He’s really pulling the strings for them and we’ll have to be on our toes.”
In Sunday’s other game two more teams in the middle of the table, Castleford and Catalans Dragons, face each other at Wheldon Road. Castleford will give a debut to the former Leeds prop Ryan Bailey, while also welcoming back Denny Solomona from a long absence because of injury.
