WARRINGTON Wolves welcome back top try scorer Joel Monaghan and his brother Michael and long term absentee Chris Bridge to the 19 man squad for Friday’s derby clash with St Helens at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Both teams go into this fixture on the back of defeats and the last time the two sides met it was Warrington who took the spoils to book their place in the Grand Final.
While Smith welcomes back the Monaghans and Bridge, he is still without Ben Harrison and long term casualties Adrian Morley and Lee Briers, while Trent Waterhouse, who also missed last week’s defeat at Hull KR remains also sidelined.
Meanwhile Centre Ryan Atkins is set to make his 100th club appearance in primrose and blue on Friday as players continue to reach personal milestones.
Head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith said ahead of the game: “We’re still performing pretty well having suffered from a number of changes to our team over the last couple of weeks. That is all part and parcel of Rugby League and we need to be able to handle that, and cope with that, and I’m sure we will in the near future.
“I am looking forward to another tough match on Friday against Saints who have had mixed fortunes themselves so far this year with their form and injuries.
“I don’t think we are seeing the true form and potential of Saints yet. I’d like to think that is the case for both teams at this stage of the year but I’ve got no doubt that both will be there or there about fighting at the back end of the year.”
Wolves Squad:
4 Ryan Atkins
3 Chris Bridge
10 Garreth Carvell
17 Mike Cooper
24 Ben Currie
20 Rhys Evans
15 Simon Grix
14 Micky Higham
18 Chris Hill
1 Brett Hodgson
26 James Laithwaite
21 Tyrone McCarthy
5 Joel Monaghan
9 Michael Monaghan
7 Richie Myler
19 Stefan Ratchford
2 Chris Riley
12 Ben Westwood
16 Paul Wood
