George Williams set for Warrington debut this weekend
George Williams is set to make his Warrington debut in Sunday’s trip to Leeds.
Earlier this month, Warrington confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old half-back on a three and a half year deal following his release from NRL side Canberra Raiders.
Williams was in the stands on Wednesday to watch his new team-mates beat his former club Wigan 21-8 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
He is likely to line up alongside Blake Austin in the halves for Steve Price’s side, with England international Gareth Widdop still injured.
Leeds will welcome back Liam Sutcliffe, who has been cleared to return after completing his return to play protocol following a failed HIA against Salford last Friday.
Bodene Thompson has now served his three-match suspension and youngster Morgan Gannon has also been recalled by coach Richard Agar.
The Rhinos are still without Rob Lui (hamstring), Jack Broadbent (ankle), Alex Sutcliffe (knee) and Jack Walker (foot).
Warrington travel to Headingley on the back of a win over rivals Wigan at home on Wednesday, while Leeds are also in good form after overcoming Hull 22-12 at the MKM Stadium on Thursday evening.
Leeds: T Briscoe, Newman, Hurrell, Handley, Gale, Oledzki, Leeming, Prior, Martin, Tetevano, Dwyer, L Sutcliffe, Myler, Smith, Holroyd, Vuniyayawa, Thompson, L Briscoe, Donaldson, O’Connor, Gannon.
Warrington: Akauola, Ashton, Austin, Charnley, D Clark, Cooper, Currie, Davis, Doro, Hill, Hughes, King, Lineham, Longstaff, Mamo, Mulhern, Ratchford, Thewlis, Walker, Williams, Wrench.
The televised Super League clash takes place at Headingley this Sunday, 7:30pm kick-off.
In other Super League news, promotion and relegation to and from Super League is still set to go ahead at the end of the season.
There has been some conjecture over whether the goal posts will once again be moved, including an erroneous report by the BBC on their live Challenge Cup final coverage that relegation will not take place this year.
But officials from the RFL and Super League have confirmed to us that there have been no formal discussions around removing relegation.
An RFL spokesperson said: “There is no change – it’s still one up, one down.
“There has been acknowledgement from Super League, and an emphasis from us, that Championship clubs can’t be blamed (for the impact of COVID) and that promotion can’t be affected.”