Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess has explained the major selection call he made in Round One, where he has conceded that his side did not quite meet expectations.
In the final match of Super League’s opening round, Warrington travelled to face Huddersfield Giants who they beat 20-12 despite going behind, although a late Matt Dufty try for the Wolves made the score look a lot more comfortable than the game was.
Having placed third in Super League in 2025 and made the Challenge Cup Final, Wire were heavy favourites against the Giants who have finished ninth in the past two seasons. However, as five of the six games showed this weekend, the level of competition is fierce.
Warrington will be tested again on Friday night when they play Catalans Dragons and all eyes will be on who Sam Burgess plays in the halves, having opted with veteran Stefan Ratchford over new recruit Oli Leyland to partner George Williams.
There could be plenty of changes on Friday given that Warrington travel out to Las Vegas the following week but the major call last weekend surrounded those halves, and Burgess has now explained why.
Warrington Wolves boss explains major selection call in round one
“It’s just the way I felt on selection day – it was pretty hard to pick between them,” he revealed to NRL.com after the game.
Ratchford is one of Warrington’s long-serving players and is adept in a number of positions but has most notably been a centre in recent years, whereas Leyland arrived this off-season after impressing during his debut Super League season with London Broncos.
Both men join the currently injured Leon Hayes in the race to be the playing partner of England and recently-announced club captain George Williams.
Assessing his decision, Burgess said of Ratchford and Leyland: “They’ve both been pretty good. I just went with a bit of experience. Oli’s been awesome and he would have done a great job for us as well.”
Ratchford has a whopping 373 Super League appearances to his name, almost 350 more than Leyland who sits at 27. That experience and the closer connections earned him the nod, Burgess revealed.
The Warrington Wolves boss conceded: “It’s not Stef’s role, really, but he’s so experienced he can do anything for us. There’s value in having him for that stuff, he’s a calm head and he’s close to George and Duff – that’s probably what got him over the line.”
It’s unclear which man will play in Las Vegas, though Burgess noted that is still one game away but he did give some feelings on the performance against Huddersfield, admitting it fell short of expectations.
He said: “It wasn’t a very polished performance. I expected us to be a tiny bit better. We lost our way a little bit.”
The opportunity for his side to find their way presents itself on Friday night when they host Catalans Dragons with the Halliwell Jones Stadium for one being renamed the Luke Littler Stadium for one night only.
