Sweet 17: Wakefield Trinity (h)

It's a return to the Halliwell Jones Stadium for the Warrington Wolves, as we welcome the opponents in arguably our most entertaining fixture of 20119 so far, Wakefield Trinity, who we defeated by two points in March. Who should take to the field for this game?

There are a few changes to the squad that was defeated by Hull KR last week, with Harvey Livett beginning a one-month loan spell at KR, while Daryl Clark and Joe Philbin are unsurprisingly restored back to the squad. Here is the team I would play on Friday night...

Full Back - 22 Jake Mamo
Despite a bit of an iffy performance at KR last week, I see no reason for Mamo's position to be in question, and he will surely start at full back this week.

Winger - 3 Bryson Goodwin
I wondered if this change might happen last week, but it didn't. Jack Johnson had a sound game in East Yorkshire, but Steve Price has been talking up Ryan Atkins' fitness this week, which makes me think that he will come in at centre and the in-form Goodwin shunted out to the wing.

Centre - 4 Ryan Atkins
I expect Atkins to come back in against his former club. I actually thought he would play last week, but Steve Price has alluded to Atkins being fully fit in quotes this week, which suggests he will play.

Centre - 18 Toby King
King has started every game at centre since the victory over Castleford Tigers in Round Five, showing his importance to the team in 2019. Recent games have seen him redevelop a connection with Josh Charnley, which was so fluent earlier in the year.

Winger - 5 Josh Charnley
After a dry spell in front of the tryline, Charnley has now scored in his last two games. He is one of only four players who have started every game this season.

Stand Off - 6 Blake Austin
Both halfbacks have also started every game in 2019. Austin will be relieved to have Daryl Clark back in the side, as he was far less effective without the support of Clark last week. 

Scrum Half - 15 Declan Patton
Despite a diabolical performance last week, I can't see Patton being replaced in the halves, because there aren't really any alternatives. The only two I had considered were Stefan Ratchford, who is now injured, and Harvey Livett, who is now out on loan.

Prop - 8 Chris Hill
Hill returned to his penalty-conceding ways last week with a performance full of poor discipline, which needs to be sorted out ahead of Friday's game.

Hooker - 9 Daryl Clark
Last week showed just how important Clark is to this team. He has been the most consistent player in Super League this season and his return is a massive blessing.

Prop - 10 Mike Cooper
Cooper has been brilliant in the last few games and is still hugely under-appreciated for his work. Big forward player and will be key as always.

Second Row - 11 Ben Currie
It is no secret that Currie is my favourite Warrington player, but he really should've done better for KR's winning try last weekend. Still, he has been playing well largely this season and will keep his place here.

Second Row - 12 Jack Hughes
I did wonder if Price may have elected to rest Hughes for this one, as he has played every game since London in early April, though he is in the squad and very likely to start.

Loose Forward - 17 Joe Philbin
Philbin was rested for the first time this season last week, though will come back in against Wakefield and is likely to start in the 13 position.

Interchange - 13 Ben Murdoch-Masila
Had a great impact away at Wakefield in March, needs to have a game like that to get back into form.

Interchange - 14 Jason Clark
I'm still waiting for him to deliver a big moment, but he's not a bad option from the bench in terms of work-rate.

Interchange - 19 Sitaleki Akauola
Interesting to hear Steve Price hinting at a potential new contract for Akauola in the week. His recent performances have done him no harm at all.

Interchange - 23 Matt Davis
I think he's probably a player who is more successful from the bench, though I'd be fine with him playing from the start or from the bench, because he's a useful and industrious player.

We need to get back to winning ways here, particularly with the visit of St Helens next Friday night. This is a crucial two points against a side that are bang out of form and were well beaten by Salford last time out. Unfortunately for Wire, Wakefield have the return of David Fifita after the influential prop has been missing for a while. This makes Chris Chester's side a more dangerous proposition, although I feel we will still have enough to get the win here. It would be really good to put on a show for the HJ crowd with a really good performance full of exciting rugby. We were fantastic defensively last time out at home against Catalans and hopefully we can replicate this, with some good attacking play too. For some reason, our fanbase are being very negative about our chances at the minute, so a big result on Friday going into the Saints game would be useful.

It's always our year.

Daniel (@aloosewire)