Sam Burgess promises ‘good things’ coming for Warrington as Matt Dufty revelation made

Warrington Wolves coach Sam Burgess has promised that ‘good things’ will come from their horrendous end to the season – as he also revealed 18th man Matt Dufty was not even with the travelling squad that were beaten by Hull FC.

The Wire’s season is ending in borderline disgrace after another comprehensive loss on Saturday evening at the hands of Hull. They were beaten 34-2 to slip to their 16th league defeat of the campaign.

Burgess continues to come under heavy pressure after that latest loss, but he has promised that the club and his squad will be better for the turbulent experiences they are currently enduring going into 2026.

He said: “As painful as it might be for a lot of the the Warrington fans back home, good things will come from this period. A lot of young players are getting great experience. I really do believe that.

“We’ve got one more game together. We’ll give it our best shot. And then it’s all systems go for next year.”

Burgess sprung a big team surprise by dropping Matt Dufty in favour of youngster Cai Taylor-Wray at fullback, with Dufty named as 18th man.

But the Wire head coach revealed that Dufty didn’t even travel with the Warrington squad to the game at the MKM Stadium due to illness – insisting the Australian had not breached any disciplinary regulations internally after a high-profile omission earlier this season.

“It wasn’t a disciplinary thing – I just wanted to see Cai in the team,” Burgess said. “He had his first game back for the reserves last week and I wanted to see him play in the first team. That was it.

“He’s actually been ill, so it’s a good job I didn’t pick him. He didn’t travel with us.”

The Wolves finish a below-par 2025 with a trip to league leaders Hull KR next Thursday evening.