Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess insists he will be asking serious questions of himself and his team after their capitulation at Huddersfield Giants on Sunday.
The Wolves started the day five points adrift of the play-offs and they knew that a win in West Yorkshire would be enough to breathe life into their hopes of finishing inside the Super League top six. And, despite falling behind to an Aidan McGowan try, Warrington recovered to take a lead into the break.
Tries came from Connor Wrench and the fit again Tony King and as the sides emerged from the dressing rooms to start the second half, the expectation was that Warrington would kick on and re-establish themselves as play-off contenders.
What followed was enough to all but strike them out as contenders, though, as they crumbled away to a 23-10 loss in the final quarter of the game. George Flanagan scored twice and Jacob Gagai touched down as the Giants, who have little but pride to play for, claimed their second win of the season over Warrington.
As such, with four games to go, against Salford Red Devils, Leigh Leopards, Hull FC and Hull KR, Warrington look to be all but out of the picture now. And the pressure is certainly starting to build on Burgess, with fans voicing their anger in the stadium and online.
Speaking after the game, Burgess vented his own frustrations.
Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess on Huddersfield Giants defeat
“It was an extremely disappointing second half – it’s probably as poor as we have played since I’ve been in charge at the club,” he said, per BBC.
“We’ve got to ask a few questions of ourselves and I’ll be doing the same with myself because it just wasn’t good enough.
“The first half was a fair game, but in the second half we may as well have stayed in the changing room.
“It’s confusing because we had a great week in practice and we expect to transfer into our performance, but it just didn’t.
“That’s probably the most concerning part – the guys are just not turning up on gameday.”
