Toronto Wolfpack look for different result in return visit to Warrington

The Wolfpack return to the scene of the crime Friday as they visit Warrington Wolves in Super League play.

Toronto suffered its worst-ever loss in May 2018 at Halliwell Jones Stadium, thrashed 66-10 by Warringon in a sixth-round Challenge Cup clash.

Much has changed since that defeat, with the latest development coming Thursday with news that Wolfpack director of rugby Brian Noble was stepping down.

No reason was given other than Noble, who has been with the team since its inception, saying only it was “the right time for me to move to a new challenge in the game.”

Warrington (1-2-0) has news of its own. The Wolves recently suspended centre Anthony Gelling after the Cook Islands international’s arrest on suspicion of wounding with intent.

After three seasons, Toronto (0-3-0) has won its way into the top tier of English rugby league. But the transatlantic rugby league team has yet to win in Super League and coach Brian McDermott has been forced to juggle his already thin squad due to injury.

The injury list grew this week with news that veteran forward Jon Wilkin, who missed last week’s loss to Wigan with a knee issue sustained in warmup, needs minor knee surgery and will be out “no more than a month.”

And fellow forward Gadwin Springer, who failed a head injury assessment in the Wigan game, is not ready to return from a concussion.

The club had said earlier in the week that both would be available Friday.  

They join Darcy Lussick (hernia), Joe Mellor (hand) and James Cunningham (hamstring) on the injured list. New Zealand international Chase Stanley remains out due to visa issues.

On the plus side, marquee signing Sonny Bill Williams is back from New Zealand after missing last week’s loss at Wigan to be at the birth of his fourth child (son Essa). Back Greg Worthington has been called back from loan at Featherstone and French international Tony Gigot, newly arrived on a four-week trial, is available.

That means McDermott has 19 players to choose from. Rugby league teams dress 17, including 13 starters and four on the interchange bench.

While the Wolfpack have nothing to show for games against Castleford, Salford and Wigan, the team’s play has improved each week.

“Against Wigan we did a lot of good things for large parts of the game,” McDermott said of the 32-10 loss. “It was the final 10-15 minutes that we found most disappointing. We fell off a little bit.”

McDermott is specifically looking for an improvement in the kicking game Friday. And he is confident the future will be brighter

“We’ve got a bubble going on in the moment and anything inside our bubble believes we could be good this year,” he said. “We believe we could be really good. We believe we’re going to have our say.

“We have that belief not based on whether we get a W or an L at the end of the result on the weekend. We base that belief on performance and how our practice and how we operate with each other, the professionalism we show through the week. That gives us confidence.”

Anything would be better than Toronto’s first visit to Warrington.

Leading 8-0 early in a chippy first half, Toronto conceded 54 unanswered points in the second half as referee Ben Thaler sent a procession of Wolfpack players to the sidelines.

Toronto was reduced to 10 men for 10 minutes in the second half with Andrew Dixon already off for punching a Warrington player and captain Josh McCrone and Lussick shown yellow cards for talking back to the referee.

Then-Toronto vice-captain Ashton Sims, a former Warrington player with shoulder-length locks, accused the Wolves of pulling his hair in a first-half melee while fellow Wolfpack forward Jake Emmitt showed Thaler his forearm, saying he had been bitten.

The May 2018 contest marked just the second time the Wolfpack had faced a Super League team in a competitive game. Toronto lost 29-22 to the Salford Red Devils in the fifth round of the 2017 Challenge Cup.

Wolfpack forward Adam Sidlow, meanwhile, is slated to make his 300th career appearance Friday — with 77 of those in Toronto colours. The big man has also played for Bradford, Salford, Workington Town and Widnes. 

On the Warrington side, Stefan Ratchford needs 12 points to reach the 1,000 mark in Super League while Tom Lineham is one try away from 150 for his career.

Marquee signing Gareth Widdop, a 10-year veteran of Australia’s NRL, will be playing in front of the Warrington home crowd for the first time after missing the Wolves’ home opener.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2020.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press