Smith backs Patton to shine in Wolves debut

Warrington coach Tony Smith believes that Declan Patton can exert a positive influence on the Wolves this weekend against Wakefield.

Warrington head into the Saturday afternoon home game on the back of four consecutive defeats, but Smith believes that the 19-year-old half-back can help to change that form.

“There are certainly some areas that aren’t great at the moment,” Smith admitted.

“We’re down in our points scoring, and we need to be better down our opponents’ end of the field.

“I’ve been saying that for most games this year, and it’s probably led to us making a change or two this weekend.

“We’ve got young Declan Patton coming in for his first ever game.

“Dec’s a terrific young half-back who we feel is ready, so we’re giving him his chance this week.

“Hopefully he can make a difference for us.

“He’s talent who’s been training with us for a couple of seasons, and he’s been playing for North Wales, and we feel he’s ready for an opportunity.”

Smith also acknowledged that the Easter period, with its back-to-back defeats to Widnes and Castleford, had been difficult for his team.

“The bunny certainly didn’t come to our neck of the woods,” he said.

“He bypassed us! It’s a period that you have to roll your sleeves up and get through, and unfortunately we didn’t quite do that.

“We were off the pace in both games, and, after a bright start against Cas I thought we looked sharp to start with, but we just didn’t put enough points or pressure on.

“It gave them some chance to get back in the game, and just before half-time, they did.

“It was a real poor Easter for us, but we’ve sat back and looked at it.

“We’ve had a bit of a kick up the backside, so hopefully we can come out with a much better performance in the next few weeks.”