It's been less than a week since Warrington downed their arch-rivals Wigan in a classic encounter at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, but the big games are coming thick and fast in this league, with the Wire making the trip to West Yorkshire to take on a strong Wakefield Trinity side at the Mobile Rocket Stadium. Here's the 17-man squad I would pick for this clash...
This week's Sweet 17 sees me make three changes to the squad that defeated Wigan and three to the starting 13. One of these changes is enforced, with Ben Westwood unavailable for the foreseable after being charged with a Grade D offence for his headbutt last week. Apart from Westwood, the only other unavailable player in the squad is Bryson Goodwin, who remains injured. After two tough and physical home games, I have looked to include a little more technical quality in the side to play against a free-flowing Wakefield team.
Full Back - 1 Stefan Ratchford
A stunning full back performance from Ratchford was pivotal to the Wire's success against Wigan. The former Salford man is in some of the best form of his career and will hopefully continue this on Thursday night. It has been particularly good to see him make clean breaks from tackles, which led to his tries against both Catalans and Wigan.
Winger - 22 Jake Mamo
He may have only played two games from the start, but Mamo has been an instant hit so far. Three tries and an assist mean that he is our second highest tryscorer despite having only played a third of the season. The former Huddersfield back has been excellent out wide and it will be interesting to see if this is Wire's preferred route to the tryline again, as it has been in the last two games.
Centre - 20 Harvey Livett
The first of my suggested changes is to drop Ryan Atkins from the squad after a dreadful performance last time out, and bring back Harvey Livett. Livett has been out in the cold since scoring two tries from the second row against Hull KR in Game Two, which is odd given the impression he made in that game. While I don't think there's a place in the second row for him, there definitely could be one at centre - his best position - with Goodwin out and Atkins struggling for form.
Centre - 18 Toby King
King's last two performances have been excellent, particularly in a defensive sense, making good back-to-back tackles a few times. He has also seemed confident on the ball, especially when handling in the in-goal area before the mass brawl kicked off.
Winger - 5 Josh Charnley
After scoring an acrobatic try out wide against Wigan, Charnley took his tally to five for the season. The Wire's top scorer will fancy his chances of grabbing more tries against a side who have been suspect defensively this season.
Stand Off - 6 Blake Austin
The win over Wigan displayed Austin's importance to the team perfectly. All sense of organisation was lost when the halfback left the field with a head injury following Joe Greenwood's appalling tackle. This will be a game more suited to Austin's creative game, where he can show off some of his flair, similar to the Huddersfield game.
Scrum Half - 15 Declan Patton
Patton struggled against Wigan in terms of creativity, though has done well enough all season to keep his place for the time being. With Brown out injured for the season, we are low on halfback options, though it was interesting to see Ratchford move there and Mamo go to full back when Austin went off last week. Still, it's highly unlikely that Patton will be dropped - though we need better from him in a game where creativity will be required.
Prop - 8 Chris Hill
The captain was largely good against Wigan, making good, driving runs forward and offering good leadership. Wakefield will be another really tough game and Hill will keep his place, partly because the other forwards in the squad like Philbin and Murdoch-Masila are more effective off the bench.
Hooker - 9 Daryl Clark
Another monumental performance from Clark against Wigan continued his incredible form. The number nine is an early contender for Man of Steel and is absolutely crucial to the Wire's success this term. Given the nature of his games, it may be an idea to give him a breather during the next few matches - a point I will return to later.
Prop - 10 Mike Cooper
Consistency is the name of Cooper's game this season, with a performance level that is always to a high standard. As always, the prop's yardage will be important in Warrington attacks, particularly in the first half of the sets of six.
Second Row - 11 Ben Currie
Currie has put in two very solid shifts since returning from injury and was particularly impressive in an attacking sense against Wigan, being unlucky to see an effort ruled out by a world-class tackle from Zak Hardaker. His transition back into the team has been seamless.
Second Row - 12 Jack Hughes
The Warrington co-captain isn't a usual tryscorer yet goes into the Wakefield game looking to score for the third successive game. Hughes' driving game has been very strong in terms of metres and is consistently performing to a high calibre. Important part of the team.
Loose Forward - 14 Jason Clark
With Ben Westwood beginning his ban for headbutting Morgan Escare, a place at loose forward becomes available. For me, the obvious choice to fill this role is Jason Clark, who has been excellent from the bench lately and was particularly impressive last week against Wigan. Clark is good in terms of his yardage but is also a great tackler and is well overdue a second start of the season. It is likely to be between Clark and Tasi for the position and Tasi has been so disappointing in comparison to Clark that it should be a no-brainer.
Interchange - 17 Joe Philbin
Philbin has been very effective in the last few games from the bench and has an admirable work ethic. He is a very reliable performer and with Price's in-game rotation of his forward pack, will definitely be used in this game.
Interchange - 13 Ben Murdoch-Masila
It was surprising to see Murdoch-Masila have less of an impact on the game last week. He didn't spend as much time on the field and operated deeper than usual. This is his kind of game though - and should be a very effective player on Thursday.
Interchange - 2 Tom Lineham
Following two games out of the squad, I have brought Lineham back in for the Wakefield game. I could see the use for Lineham in this game, with the team I have selected. If my gamble on Livett were not to work, then there would be the option of moving Mamo into the centre and bringing Lineham on out wide. With three forwards on the bench, having a winger there too wouldn't be a bad thing in a much-changed back line.
Interchange - 21 Danny Walker
My final change in this Sweet 17 is bringing Danny Walker onto the bench. In games where we are likely to dominate, it would be an opportunity to give Daryl Clark a few minutes of rest, and Walker is the only backup we have in the hooker position. It would also be a chance to see a bit more of the new signing, whose start to Wire life hasn't really got going yet.
LINEUP LAST TIME OUT:
Ratchford, Mamo, Atkins, King, Charnley, Austin, Patton, Hill, D.Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, Westwood
Interchanges: J.Clark, Tasi, Philbin, Murdoch-Masila
MY SWEET 17:
Ratchford, Mamo, Livett, King, Charnley, Austin, Patton, Hill, D.Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, J.Clark
Interchanges: Philbin, Murdoch-Masila, Walker, Lineham
So, my three changes to the 17 see Livett, Walker and Lineham replace Westwood, Atkins and Tasi in the squad, with Jason Clark coming into the starting lineup from the bench too. Aside from Westwood's suspension - these are simply performance-based decisions - Tasi simply hasn't done anything of note so far, while Atkins' performances have been riddled with errors. The only thing which would keep Jason Clark out of the starting 13 is if Steve Price feels he is better suited to making an impact from the bench. If that is the case and he remains among the interchanges, then it could be a case of Tasi competing with Livett for the loose forward position. If Livett, who has previously said he would like to play there, starts at loose forward, then Atkins would keep his place at centre.
The trip to the Mobile Rocket Stadium is an intriguing one. Wakefield have been an exciting side to watch so far this season, particularly with wins over Leeds, Hull FC and Catalans, and were unlucky to lose right at the death to St Helens. However, they have also suffered unlikely losses to Hull KR and London Broncos, so their form is inconsistent to say the least. Chris Chester's side have scored 20 less points than Wire so far this season and have conceded 33 more. Wakefield's star man is undoubtedly Bill Tupou, possibly the best centre in the whole of the league. Their other key player is Danny Brough, a thorn in Wire's side many times over the years, who has a tremendous kicking game. Pauli Pauli is also a top player, though Trinity have been rocked by the devastating news that Tom Johnstone will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury sustained in last week's win over Hull FC, our opponents after Wakefield. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or rhythm to Wakefield's form so it would be foolish to read too much into it, though they are definitely a team that can cause us problems with their classy play that saw them comfortably beat Leeds at Headingley. I hope that our excellent form will carry us through this game and get us two points which could be crucial in the week that Castleford play St Helens. See you all in Wakey and make sure to check back for my match report and squad rankings article post-game...
Prediction: Wakefield Trinity 18-32 Warrington Wolves
It's always our year.
Daniel (@aloosewire)
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