Smith’s hungry Wolves are ready to bite McGregor’s Dragons

Warrington coach Tony Smith has revealed that his players are keen to grasp the opportunity to impress in the World Club Series.

The Wolves kick off the three-game series with their Friday night home game against the St George-Illawarra Dragons, and Smith insists that his players cannot wait for kick-off.

“It’s awesome. Almost straight after the game against Hull all the bumps and bruises were getting pushed aside,” he said.

“Everybody wants to be part of this. It’s a special opportunity for us, and we’re well up for it.

“We’re keen to kick off the series with a win from England, and hopefully the other English teams can overcome the teams from Down Under as well.

“It’s a great concept, and it’s a concept that we’re really happy and proud to be part of.

“We’re ambitious. One day we want to be the world leaders at club level.

“To be given a chance to compete at this level is a fantastic opportunity, and an opportunity for us to get credibility for this part of the world and for our competition.

“So we’re going out there to make the most of that opportunity.”

As for the Dragons, Smith is expecting a tough game from coach Paul McGregor’s men.

McGregor was promoted to head coach from assistant coach during the 2014 season, following the sacking of Steve Price.

Prior to that, he coached the Illawarra Steelers, who play in the New South Wales Cup.

“They’re a very good team, with world-class players involved in their team,” Smith said.

“They’re a big, tough, hard team, who have got ambitions this year, and they’re looking for improvement on what they’ve done in the past.

“They’ve got a relatively new coach in charge, an inexperienced coach in terms of ranks, but he’s keen to get his season kicked off strongly.

“We’ve had a good strong start to Super League and we want that to continue.

“So there’s a lot to play for, for both of us.”