Warrington Wolves coach throws support behind Cai Taylor-Wray as major decision explained

Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess has thrown his support behind Cai Taylor-Wray, backing the youngster to repay the trust put in him with the #1 shirt.

Teenager Taylor-Wray has played only 12 games at senior level to date, including one on dual-registration last term for Championship outfit Widnes Vikings.

Come the start of this year though, the 19-year-old was handed the #1 shirt by Burgess amid Matt Dufty’s departure from the club, which was only officially completed a few weeks after the squad numbers were released.

Academy product Taylor-Wray – who has scored six tries in those 12 senior appearances thus far – will now go into 2026 as Warrington’s first-choice full-back, and that’s a decision Burgess had no qualms making.

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‘We’re trying to grow our own and build for the future from within’

Head coach Burgess made his own Super League debut as a 17-year-old for Bradford Bulls against Leeds Rhinos back in July 2006, when Taylor-Wray was just five months old.

The NRL and England icon has thrown plenty of Wire’s youth products in at the deep end during his two seasons at the helm to date, and as he explained during their pre-season media day earlier this month, that strategy won’t change.

Burgess explained: “It’s a bit of a model that we’re trying to adopt here at the club, we’re trying to grow our own and build for the future from within.

“From day one, I’ve backed that model. (Director of Rugby) Gary Chambers really loves that model and it’s something that we really emphasise.

“I think you’ve seen that during my time here, we’ve played a lot of youth.

“As a club, these guys have got to step forward at some point.”

East Leeds junior Taylor-Wray played five games for Wire‘s first-team last year amid a season plagued by a hamstring injury which sidelined him for a couple of months.

Backing his decision to hand the teenager the #1 shirt, Burgess said: “I think he’s an exciting player and it just backs up the way that we’re going as a group.

“Cai had a relatively skinny year last year, he had a couple of injuries, but we understand what he can do and it’s all about giving these guys time to develop as well.

“He’ll get that time this year. It might take him a year, might take him two, might take him three to see exactly who he is. But everyone has to start somewhere and I was willing to give him that go.”