Warrington Wolves

George Williams shuts out noise, Wire injuries, Jordan Rapana and Warrington Wolves v Hull FC talking points

by
Will Jackson
June 28, 2025

Warrington Wolves got back to winning ways as they beat a subpar Hull FC side 24-10 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Here’s our talking points.

Wire relief

It’s been a long time coming but Warrington are finally back to winning ways and they did it with a performance that offered encouragement about their play-off chances moving forward. Sam Burgess’ side had won just one of their last six in the league prior to clash with Hull, who fell someway short of what was expected of them in Cheshire.

Josh Thewlis got them moving in the right direction early on with a try of his own making, bursting away through a Hull gap. His brother Jake Thewlis found a second shortly after to capitalise on Hull’s woeful start.

Hull pulled it back to within two points before the break but Sam Powell got over at the start of the second half to set the tone for the second half and Lachlan Fitzgibbon made sure after some fine work from the returning Matt Dufty.

Williams shuts out the noise

Eyes were on George Williams going into this one amid the speculation around the half-back’s future this week. Burgess notably failed to rule out that the England skipper would be leaving the club to return to the NRL when speaking prior to kick off.

The talk didn’t seem to put Williams off his game against the Black and Whites, though, as he pulled the strings and came up with the decisive play in the second half to lay the platform for Sam Powell’s try.

The speculation about his future and a potential Warrington Wolves exit will continue into the coming weeks, but Williams is firmly focused on putting the Wire back on the play-off track, it seems.

Hull their own worst enemy

Yes, Hull are missing key men such as John Asiata, Will Pryce, Jed Cartwright and Jordan Lane and they may well have beaten Warrington had those stars been fit to play. But, they were simply woeful at times against the Wolves with the ball in hand.

The lack of skill and nous in attack will have been alarming at times for Cartwright, with two moments of brilliance from Aidan Sezer being the only real moments of positivity. The Black and Whites head coach could have been forgiven for pulling his hair out with some of the lack of defensive organisation, too.

Hull need to be so much better next week against St Helens if they’re bounce back and claim their first home win of the season.

Jordan Rapana

Rapana was seemingly unable to put a foot right against Warrington, with a series of knock ons and errors blighting his game and making things a lot harder for the Black and Whites. Indeed the former New Zealand international had a night to forget on the other side of the ball, missing the crucial tackle on Williams in the build up to Powell’s try before failing to stop Powell from eventually touching down.

What will be worrying is that Rapana was arguably one of Hull’s poorest last week against Salford Red Devils, too, and it might be said that he hasn’t played particularly well since being stretchered off at Leeds Rhinos last month. To be clear, he wasn’t the only one committing errors against Warrington in what was a lacklustre attacking effort.

But Rapana’s spot in the Hull side has to be far from secure going into next week, particularly with Logan Moy pushing for another opportunity.

Warrington Wolves injury news

Sam Burgess made the decision to bring Matt Dufty back into his starting line-up after the full-back suffered a fractured eye socket in the Challenge Cup final. However, two men were notable by their absence on the teamsheet on Saturday with Toby King and Joe Philbin missing out.

Speaking pre-match, Burgess confirmed that both sat out of the game with niggles, appearing to allay any fears of another long-term issue.