Widnes Vikings v Warrington Wolves: Super League preview
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 22/04/16 8:59am
Warrington coach Tony Smith has stepped up training this week in an effort to halt his club's mid-season slump.
The Wolves reeled off seven straight wins in their best-ever start to a Super League campaign but three defeats in their last four matches have set them back and Smith pledged to change his training routine for Friday's trip to Widnes.
"We've probably spent more time on the park in the last two days than we have in the last three weeks," said Smith.
"We change our schedules all the time anyway to freshen things up, it was more about time on the park and less time talking about it or recovering from games."
Smith accepts his side have missed the playmaking skills of the injured Chris Sandow more than he expected, but he is hoping Sandow's regular half-back partner Kurt Gidley can reproduce his early-season sparkle after a disappointing performance in the 11-0 defeat at Huddersfield.
"Gids probably had his most challenging game," said Smith. "He wasn't happy with his form the other night. He tried really hard but he hasn't been practising lately because he's been carrying a thigh injury.
"Some of our attack needs to sharpen up a bit and we've spent a lot of time already this week fixing some of that up with more practice and working on some fundamentals that we weren't doing."
Widnes' 28-10 loss to the Wolves on Good Friday sparked a run of four straight defeats, but they are back to full strength and Smith is expecting a difficult game.
"They've had some mixed results since the last time we played them, which was a real tough stoush," Smith said. "It's always a tough place to go, because of the surface as well, but they're a good team with some experienced players.
"When they play well, they're hard to stop, but for us this week really has been a focus on us more than them. We've had a look at them but the focus has been on fixing up a couple of things we needed to fix up."
Warrington prop Jordan Cox has recovered from a shoulder injury that has kept him out of the last two games. He replaces Joe Philbin in what is likely to be the only change to the team that lost at Huddersfield.
Widnes are virtually at full strength, with Rhys Hanbury, Aaron Heremaia, Joe Mellor, Eamon O'Carroll, Charly Runciman, Chris Houston and Setamaita Sa all back after being rested for the Challenge Cup tie at Rochdale.
Widnes Vikings: Chris Bridge, Kevin Brown, Hep Cahill, Ed Chamberlain, Chris Dean, Gil Dudson, Rhys Hanbury, Aaron Heremaia, Chris Houston, Macgraff Leuluai, Manase Manuokafoa, Stefan Marsh, Joe Mellor, Eamon O'Carroll, Charly Runciman, Setaimata Sa, Corey Thompson, Lloyd White, Matt Whitley.
Warrington Wolves: Ryan Atkins, Daryl Clark, Jordan Cox, Ben Currie, Rhys Evans, Kurt Gidley, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Jack Johnson, Benjamin Jullien, George King, Tom Lineham, Kevin Penny, Stefan Ratchford, Matty Russell, Ashton Sims, Joe Westerman, Ben Westwood, Sam Wilde.