Controversial no try, youthful spine shine, double sin bin and more Warrington Wolves v Bradford Bulls talking points

Warrington Wolves have kept their 100% home record alive in 2026, defeating Bradford Bulls 26-12.

In the blistering heat, Wire scored five tries to down the promoted side, in a game that certainly didn’t lack controversy.

Sam Burgess’ side crossed through Josh Thewlis, Luke Thomas, Albert Hopoate, Ewan Irwin and Matty Ashton, in a display that sees them elevate themselves up the table.

Bradford crossed through Jamie Gill and Jayden Nikorima, with the former crossing for his first try at Super League level.

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Warrington Wolves v Bradford Bulls talking points

Wire in pole position, but concern with star:

The win this afternoon puts Warrington back level at the top of Super League, as they now sit in between Leeds Rhinos and St Helens in second. All three are tied on 18 points, with points difference separating the trio.

However, Warrington have a game in hand on those two, with the Wolves still waiting to play their round two clash with Hull KR. When that game will be played remains unknown, but should they win that game it would be a huge boost in their hopes of finishing top of the league this season.

One downside to today’s game will be the fact that try-scorer Thewlis didn’t see out the full 80 minutes. The stand-in full-back took a hefty shot to the ribs towards the end of the game, and with Warrington winning they opted to bring him off to fully assess him.

The extra week off will no doubt help his recovery, but with Cai Taylor-Wray sidelined Sam Burgess’ side will not want to lose a second full-back ahead of their home tie with Hull FC in a fortnight.

Bulls denied controversial try:

Bradford went into the break 14-6 down, but they can feel very aggrieved that the margin wasn’t a lot closer.

Connor Wynne was denied a try on the stroke of half-time via video referee Liam Rush. Chris Atkin’s kick was caught by Waqa Blake, who produced an incredible offload to get the ball to Wynne, who dived over in the corner.

After review, Blake was deemed to have taken Josh Smith off the ball before catching the kick, and a penalty was awarded to Warrington. Sky Sports co-commentator Paul Cooke couldn’t believe the decision, with him one of many agreeing that the try should have been awarded.

A sideline conversion would have been difficult, but Bradford should have headed to the sheds at least four points behind, if not two.

Double sin-bin, double disciplinary concerns:

Both sides had players shown yellow cards, with Jayden Okunbor the first man sent for a 10-minute sit-down just five minutes into the game.

The winger caught full-back Thewlis high as he jammed in to stop the Wire attack, and he will be one of two players on the Match Review Panel’s naughty list.

Bradford actually went down to 11 players during some of that 10 minutes, with Chris Atkin shown a green card from referee Chris Kendall.

Also in line for a charge is James Bentley, who was shown a yellow card for an old-school chicken wing tackle on Blake, who was lucky to come away from the challenge injury-free.

Wolves’ future halves on show:

Sam Burgess made the brave decision to drop veteran Marc Sneyd this afternoon, opting to give a first start of the season to Leon Hayes.

That call would prove fruitful for the Wolves, with both players being key in the Warrington attack. Hayes provided the assist for Thewlis’ opening try, whilst Irwin crossed for a try himself.

Commentator Cooke suggested that, with George Williams out for the rest of the season, the two could be the halves pairing for the rest of the season, but the question then would be where that would leave Sneyd?