Warrington Wolves will be without a recognised full-back over the next few weeks following the injury Cai Taylor-Wray picked up earlier this week.
The number one tweaked his hamstring during an exercise in training and will now miss the next four to six weeks of action.
It’s a blow to the Wolves, of course, especially given the impact Taylor-Wray has made over the opening few weeks of the Super League season, with the youngster establishing himself as one of the brightest young talents in the game.
His absence will be felt then but Sam Burgess has confirmed that Josh Thewlis will be given the nod to start at full-back against Goole Vikings this weekend in the Challenge Cup. And, as Burgess said in his pre-match press briefing on Thursday afternoon, the winger is an obvious choice to step in on short notice.
But, it remains to be seen if Thewlis will stay there until Taylor-Wray’s return to action, with Burgess set to have a decision to make when Matty Ashton returns to the fold next week. Albert Hopoate has also played the role down under and he could be considered another option for Burgess.
So, let’s have a look at the trio’s full-back credentials.
Well, Thewlis might the obvious option for now, but he has only started 20 games of senior rugby league in the role. He was the man Burgess turned to for a couple of matches in June last year.
He’s scored 10 tries in that position, in total. However, that’s a figure that is some way short of the 24 tries Ashton scored as a starting full-back earlier in his career.
Ashton has made 24 career appearances at full-back, with almost half of those coming in the colours of Swinton Lions, where he started his career before making the switch to Warrington ahead of the 2020 campaign.
He did feature at full-back regularly during his first two seasons in primrose and blue, but his last start in the role came back in September 2021. He scored a hat-trick on that occasion against Castleford Tigers. However his greatest day in the role came two years previous in 2019 when he scored five tries in a 48-16 win over Sheffield Eagles.
Ashton has been out of action for almost a year with a knee injury, but it’s clear that he has the pace to excel in such a position, especially with the quicker ruck speeds opening up more opportunities to attack the line.
Albert Hopoate has started his Warrington Wolves career well at centre and Burgess may well be reluctant to move him out of the line and full-back for that reason as he continues to find his feet in Super League.
However, he has played as a full-back on nine occasions, according to Rugby League Project. Of those outings, only two have been at first grade level in the NRL, with the remaining seven being with Canberra Raiders’ New South Wales Cup team, or in a pre-season contest.
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