Warrington coach Sam Burgess fumes over ‘totally unacceptable’ Super League scheduling

Sam Burgess has hit out at scheduling he describes as ‘totally unacceptable’ as Warrington Wolves gear up to play three games in ten days.

Wire were meant to travel to reigning Super League champions Hull KR for a Round 2 clash back in February, but that was postponed due to the Robins’ involvement in the World Club Challenge against Brisbane Broncos.

Having won that World Club Challenge, KR made the Challenge Cup semi-finals, and so too did Warrington.

When the pair were drawn together at the last-four stage of the cup, it meant one would make the final: and the knock-on effect was that Round 2 clash having to be thrust into the pair’s already demanding schedule.

‘I’m not happy about the scheduling. I don’t think there’s much consideration for the players and their welfare’

Now, that re-arranged Round 2 meeting at Craven Park will have to be played on a Tuesday night – August 18, sandwiched between two other Super League games apiece which have also had to be moved.

Warrington host York Knights on Thursday evening (August 13) before travelling to KR (August 18) and then conclude a brutal ten-day spell at home against Huddersfield Giants on Sunday, August 23.

The upcoming fixture pile-up saw head coach Burgess rest both outside-back Josh Smith and forward Luke Thomas last weekend as his side won away at Bradford Bulls to leapfrog KR into fourth spot on the Super League ladder.

Speaking ahead of that clash against the Bulls, Burgess said: “I’m not happy about the scheduling.

“I don’t think there’s much consideration for the players and their welfare, but it is what it is and we have to deal with it.

“We started planning for it eight weeks ago, so we’ve got our training loads to a certain level, which (Head of Performance) Ade Gardner has led on.

“We’ll stick to the plan we’ve created and a bit of squad rotation will come into play over the next month.”

‘It’s totally unacceptable’

The schedule is even more jam-packed for KR, whose three games will come in the space of only nine days, owing to their home game against Toulouse Olympique in Round 24 taking place on a Saturday evening.

Next Tuesday night’s re-arranged Round 2 clash against Warrington comes between home games against French duo Catalans Dragons (August 13) and Toulouse (August 22).

Notably, a very similar situation unfolded for Wigan and Leigh Leopards back in 2024 when the Warriors were involved in the World Club Challenge and reached the Challenge Cup final.

The ideal outcome from Super League’s perspective is that neither of the sides involved in the World Club Challenge make the Challenge Cup final, meaning the re-arranged league game can take place the same weekend as the cup showpiece.

That happened in 2023 when St Helens – who won the World Club Challenge – hosted Huddersfield Giants in Super League the day after the Challenge Cup final between Leigh and KR.

Burgess continued: “It’s totally unacceptable, but again, it is what it is.

“We can’t change it. We tried to change it at the beginning of the year, but we hit a lot of dead ends, so the players have got to get on with it.

“It puts them at a lot of risk at a crucial time of year, but we’re hoping to get through it as best we can and we’ll take a lot of precautions.”