After turning a dominant first-half performance into a limp surrender against Hull Kingston Rovers last week, Salford Red Devils need a bounce-back performance when they head to early pacesetters Warrington Wolves on Thursday night.
Daryl Powell's side have wowed so far, but they will be wary of repeating last year's slide to the bottom two after a blistering start.
So what does Thursday have in store? Here’s the full rundown.
Warrington Wolves v Salford Red Devils
Where: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington.
When: 8.00pm (GMT)
TV: Sky Sports Arena
Warrington's last five: Won 26-16 @ Huddersfield (Rd 2), Won 42-10 v Leeds (Rd 1), Won 32-14 @ Salford (Rd 27, 2022), Lost 36-38 @ Huddersfield (Rd 26, 2022), Lost 18-19 v Castleford (Rd 25, 2022)
Salford’s last five: Lost 10-24 v Hull KR (Rd 2), Won 20-10 @ Leigh (Rd 1), Lost 12-19 @ St Helens (2022 semi-final), Won 28-0 @ Huddersfield (2022 eliminator), Lost 14-32 v Warrington (Rd 27, 2022)
Betfred match winner odds (80 minutes): Warrington 1/5, Salford 18/5, draw 25/1
First try scorer odds: Matty Ashton (Warrington) 11/2, Matt Dufty (Warrington) 6/1, Josh Thewlis (Warrington) 13/2, Ken Sio (Salford) 8/1, Joe Burgess (Salford) 10/1
Milestones:
If Sam Kasiano appears for Warrington he will be marking his 250th career game, with 153 coming in the NRL, 86 for Super League teams and 11 at international level with New Zealand and Samoa.
Josh Drinkwater is one game away from 150 in Super League since playing with London Broncos in 2014, while Wire skipper Stefan Ratchford needs four goals to hit the 500 mark in Super League and Matty Russell is three tries shy of 100 in his career.
Previous meetings:
Round 27, 2022: Salford Red Devils 14, Warrington Wolves 32
Round 17, 2022: Warrington Wolves 24, Salford Red Devils 32
Round 8, 2022: Warrington Wolves 32, Salford Red Devils 18
Round 24, 2021: Warrington Wolves 20, Salford Red Devils 19
Round 8, 2021: Salford Red Devils 18, Warrington Wolves 62
Total Super League meetings: 58 (Warrington 37, Salford 21, no draws)
Nobody in Warrington is getting carried away, even if their Wolves are top of the tree after two weeks. Excellent wins against Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants so far have featured stirring performances from some big personalities in the Wire line-up, but Daryl Powell will be reminding his side how it all went wrong after three wins from three this time last year. The in-form Paul Vaughan, Sam Kasiano, George Williams and Josh Drinkwater are in the squad once more as Warrington look to keep their hot streak going.
Paul Rowley was magnanimous in defeat last week after the Red Devils were beaten on home turf by Hull KR, but he will not let his key players off the hook if they fail to turn the screw in positive positions against this week. With Ryan Brierley, Brodie Croft, Marc Sneyd and Andy Ackers being backed to deliver again after a semi-final visit last season, there is an expectation that they lead Salford to bigger and better things again in 2023.
Sportsman stat: Warrington won 10 successive Super League meetings against Salford at one point, winning every game they played between June 2011 and March 2017.
*18+N | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
