Cai Taylor-Wray’s ‘complex’ injury issues revealed as young Warrington star’s return delayed

Cai Taylor-Wray will return before the end of the season, but his long-term injury lay-off has brought about a ‘complex’ rehabilitation programme, Warrington boss Sam Burgess has confirmed.

Young full-back Taylor-Wray was given the #1 shirt at the Halliwell Jones Stadium ahead of 2026, but has endured a stop-start campaign heavily hampered by injury.

Having picked up a number of different minor issues early on in the season, the 20-year-old then suffered a serious ankle injury against Wigan Warriors at the back end of April which required an operation.

Since then, he has played just once at first-team level, a 30-minute cameo off the bench away against Castleford Tigers which left more questions than answers for Warrington.

‘It’s quite an intricate process, it’s become a little bit complex with his ankle and his foot’

Despite again being named in Burgess’ initial 21-man squad earlier in the week, Taylor-Wray was again absent come matchday on Sunday afternoon as the Wolves beat Huddersfield Giants 34-24 on home soil.

Post-match, Wire’s head coach provided an injury update on a number of players, but went into depth on the full-back: whose rehabilitation has already included numerous appearances for the club’s reserves.

Burgess explained: “I know Cai is the one you all want to know about, so I’ll address it.

“He’s not quite right, he’s not 100% and he’s not himself.

“We’re working hard to get him back to his best, but it’s just taking a bit longer.”

Set to turn 21 in February, youth product Taylor-Wray – who has one loan appearance for Championship outfit Widnes Vikings on his CV – made his first-team debut for Warrington back in 2024.

He’s now played 18 games at first-team level across all competitions in their colours, but only seven of those have come this season – with four tries scored.

Burgess added: “It’s quite an intricate process, it’s become a little bit complex with his ankle and his foot.

“We’re working our backsides off to get him back confident and ready to play and be good again.

“You’ll probably see Cai before the end of the year, we’re just getting him a bit more strength.”