Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess delivers ominous warning for Super League

Warrington Wolves have appointed Sam Burgess as their new Head Coach for the 2024 Super League season replacing new Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell.

This is a bold and surprise move for the Wolves with Burgess having very little Head Coaching experience. He acted as assistant coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs last year prior to his controversial exit.

It is his job to deliver a new and more optimistic era at the Halliwell Jones and finally end their wait for Grand Final glory. Some have suggested he could be the Pep Guardiola of rugby league given his age and the fact it has only been a few years since his retirement.

Burgess has now faced the media for the first time as Warrington boss and said: “Warrington deserves better and I guess that is my reason for coming here.”

He went on to state that self belief is also behind the decision saying: “Plus I have self belief. O know what this club is capable of.”

An ominous warning from Burgess about the future and the future in general is bright for Warrington given the impressive displays of their academy in Australia even defeating Warrington’s academy this weekend.

The Wolves opened the scoring after twelve minutes when a fine thirty yard break from scrum half Joe Hickey put his side on the front foot and after they then forced a goal line drop out they went down the short side and full back Noah Booth found second row Peter Scott and his ball was collected by winger Jake Thewlis out wide to score in the right corner. Booth converted from the touchline and then just after the midway point of the half the Wolves forced an error inside the West Tigers twenty metre line and centre Deacon Connolly collected the loose ball before being held just short but from a quick play the ball hooker Ben Hartill long cut out ball over the top found Thewlis who squeezed over in the right corner. Booth added another fine conversion.

Just before the half hour the Wolves moved further clear when a ball on the last tackle from Hartill was picked up by Hickey and he stepped round three defenders to score on the right. Booth converted and then three minutes later a deep swirling high kick on the last tackle from stand off Adam Whalley was fumbled by the Tigers and from the scrum Whalley found centre Ethan Smith who twisted in the tackle to score on the left. Booth added the conversion.

Three minutes before the break back-to-back penalties for the Tigers put them deep into Wolves territory and after stand off Marc Tannous had been held just short Aaron Keppie found fellow substitute Dougie Tuala who crashed over at the side of the posts. Tannous converted to make the half time score 24-6 to the Wolves as a late penalty attempt from Booth went just wide.

Wests Tigers got off to the perfect start in the second half when a brilliant fifty metre break down the middle from prop forward Jekope Sovau in the first set split the Wolves defence and he found substitute Jared Haywood in support to score under the posts. Scrum half Luke Keppie converted but then four minutes later Sovau was sin binned for a dangerous tip tackle and whilst he was off the field the Wolves made the extra man count as substitute Noah High slipped a pass to Whalley whose short ball was collected by second row Nolan Tupaea and he stepped round a defender before offloading to Smith who scored on the left.

Just before the hour the Wolves were over once again when a superb early kick, on the second tackle of the set, from Whalley into the in-goal area saw Tupaea react fastest to ground the ball just before it went dead to score on the left. Booth converted but then two minutes from time Wests gained a consolation try when substitute Dougie Tuala was held just short but a quick play the ball saw A Keppie find Tuala and he crashed over at the side of the posts. Tannous added the conversion to make the final score 34-18 to a delighted Warrington Wolves side.

After the game Wolves Head of Youth Ryan O’Brien said: “It was a very good team performance and another brilliant developmental experience for our players. We were aggressive, physical, disciplined, and went after a bigger West Tigers team from the first whistle, Whilst we made plenty of improvements from the first game, we still have a lot more to learn and will be working hard to address some key areas in training this week ahead of our game against New South Wales next Saturday.”