Wolves CEO: Saturday home games give us best chance of survival

Warrington Wolves chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick says home games on a Saturday give the club a better chance of retaining their Super League status through the Qualifiers.

More rest time and preparation are the reasons Fitzpatrick thinks Saturday home games are the way forward for Wire in the middle eights.

It has been a dismal season by the Wolves’ standards but they got their Qualifiers campaign off to a good start on Friday night by beating local rivals Widnes Vikings.

“Our primary objective during these Middle Eights is to ensure Super League status and I believe playing on a Saturday gives us the best chance,” Fitzpatrick told the Warrington Guardian.

“It means we have mainly seven-day turnarounds for every game. So players get the longer rest between games and the best preparation for the following week’s game.

“We also looked at other kick-off times, but with Sky games being at 3.15pm, even if later games (such as Leigh and Hull KR) are moved for TV it won’t mean too much disruption for supporters.”

Fitzpatrick also mentioned the standard of the Qualifiers, and how it won’t be an easy ride for last year’s Grand Finalists.

“We are going with relative form but it is not going to be easy and we have two difficult fixtures to start with,” the CEO said before the Vikings game.

“I think a number of clubs will see us as a scalp and they will want to knock us out.

“We cannot underestimate any team.”