Sam Burgess will be keeping a keen eye on one of Warrington Wolves’ latest overseas recruits this evening.
The Wolves take on Sheffield Eagles tonight with a spot in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup on the line and Smith has been given the opportunity to show what he can do from the start.
The outside back has joined the club from Queensland Cup outfit Brisbane Tigers on a two-year deal having to failed to make his way into the NRL picture during his time down under. He has plenty of experience of the second string competitions down under, scoring 42 tries in 80 games, but he has never featured at a level considered to be first grade.
Tonight will not only be his competitive debut for Warrington then, it will be the first time he has featured at such a level. Of course, the Eagles aren’t expected to cause too many problems for the Wire this evening, but Smith will be keen to impress and Burgess will be watching closely as he mulls over his line-up for the Super League opener against St Helens.
“He’s played a couple of games for us and he’s looked good,” Burgess said on the Australian. “He’s getting used to the conditions and the weather like a lot of the imports when they come over. He’s been great to coach.
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“I think he’s just an ambitious young man. He’s got a couple of goals in his career that he wants to achieve so coming over here and becoming a first grader and whether he’s got ambitions to go back there and try and play NRL, I’m sure he does, but it’s been great to have him, he’s a wonderful young man.”
Smith will be on the outside shoulder of another new signing in Albert Hopoate tonight, with the centre getting his first run out since arriving at the club from Canberra Raiders. Hopoate ruptured his ACL last season and arrived in Warrington at the back end of that rehabilitation process.
He has now been given the green light to play and Burgess is keen to get him some minutes before the season gets underway. The Warrington Wolves head coach has confirmed that Matty Ashton, who has a similar injury, is just a week or so behind Hopoate in the recovery process, while Luke Yates misses this week’s Cup outing with a head knock.
“I think just getting him some game time under his belt before round one, it’s going to be a physical encounter round one and this gives him a bit of exposure to the game again,” Burgess said on Hopoate. “He’s been out a little while so that’s the thinking behind that.”
On Ashton, he added: “He’s close enough but he should be good to go at some point. Whether it’s round one, I don’t know. but it won’t be far away. I just didn’t want to risk him this week.”
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