Warrington Wolves played their first game last night since the dismissal of Daryl Powell and they would have struggled to pick a tougher opponent with top of the table Catalans Dragons visiting the Halliwell Jones.
When the fixture was initially moved to be allotted Sky Sports broadcasting coverage the teams were both flying high but a poor run of form for Warrington had seen them slip all the way to sixth prior to last night’s game.
Despite losing 30-10, the Wire actually jumped up one spot in the table on account of a very young Hull KR side falling to defeat against Wigan Warriors by a huge margin of 64-6, Abbas Miski running in four tries and Jai Field completing a six minute hattrick late on.
It was a poor performance from Warrington and Sky Sports’ pundit Kevin Brown was quick to highlight the efforts, or lack of, from one senior player who he questioned on a number of the Dragons tries.
Speaking on full-back Matt Dufty, Brown said: “Well, at the very least, he needs to be in the picture. You can see Josh Thewlis is there and he’s a full-back, so he’s demanding or expecting Dufty to be there.
“Look, he’s tracked the ball and he’s jogged and you just can’t do that. That’s poor.”
On another of Catalans tries the effort of the Australian was again questioned by former Wire player Brown.
“You see him now on this next try and when it goes away, he’s doing his job as he’s tracking on the inside. That’s all good but now he needs to turn and get there, he’s the quickest player on the field. He’s got to be there now.”
Given the current predicament that Warrington find themselves in, seven losses on the spin, with just three wins in thirteen, and under interim coaching, Brown emphasised the need for effort which he deemed Dufty to be underperforming on.
“Well, the first thing that you need when you’re digging yourself out of a hole is effort and he’s a key player, he’s a senior player, that’s not good enough.
“Gary Chambers, he demands honesty and effort, and that isn’t that. Kasiano at the end, that’s effort and honesty. He’ll be disappointed with that effort.”
