Paul Wellens has named his St. Helens squad to take on Warrington Wolves on Friday night at the Halliwell Jones, with kick-off scheduled for 8pm.
This upcoming clash, in Round 18 of Betfred Super League 2023, is the first of two visits the Saints will make to the home of the Wolves this season. Meetings between the two clubs in recent years have been high-quality affairs, producing some of the most exciting matches in the competition.
Last Friday night, the Red V returned to winning ways and made it seven wins in the last eight matches by downing a spirited Castleford Tigers side 22-0 in torrential rain. With the play-off race tightening up week by week, St. Helens currently sit in fifth place in the league ladder but know that a victory would leapfrog the team over Warrington.
The Saints’ Head Coach makes just one change to the squad that was announced for last week’s win over the Tigers.
Joe Batchelor is out of the 21-man squad due to a slight hamstring issue, though he is expected to return for next week’s game against Catalans Dragons or the semi-final the week after against Leigh Leopards. Into the team list comes Lewis Baxter who has yet to feature for the Saints’ First Team in the Super League season so far, but has featured for Swinton Lions on dual-registration and at North Wales Crusaders on loan.
Saints have already faced the Wire this year back in April at the Totally Wicked Stadium and secured a big result, over the then league leaders, to convincingly beat Daryl Powell’s men 28-6.
Powell’s Wolves are on a run of three straight defeats, including being knocked out of the Challenge Cup at the quarter-final stage. So on Friday night in front of their own fans, in a local rivalry, they will have plenty of motivation to perform and stop their current run of form.
Over 2,100 Saints supporters have already secured their tickets!
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St Helens 21-man squad vs Warrington Wolves
1. Jack Welsby, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies,22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney.
