“I’ve rarely seen a better rugby league player in my existence” – Tony Smith on Greg Inglis

The 34-year-old former Australia test centre will make a belated Super League debut for Warrington in their round five fixture against Smith’s men at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

After being out of the game for two years, Wolves coach Steve Price has been holding back the former Melbourne and South Sydney player but says the time is right for him to play and Smith knows the danger he can pose.

Smith said: “I’ve rarely seen a better rugby league player in my existence. Whether he can get back to some of those levels, let’s just hope it’s not this week.

“I hope he runs out of steam. It’s up to us, how good he is will depend on how good we are as well.

“We need to take things into our own hands and certainly not sit back and admire what he’s able to do and what he’s capable of doing.

“We’re certainly not going to overly focus on Greg.”

Rovers, who finished bottom last year, go into Saturday’s game in a rich vein of form.

Smith will be hoping to complete a notable hat-trick of wins over his old clubs after overseeing the defeat of Huddersfield and Leeds in the last two weeks.

Smith said: “We want to continue to improve, whether we win or not. We’ve been good at that so far.

“It will be a good test for us. Warrington have found some form in the last couple of weeks. They can be ruthless at times so we certainly need to be at our best.”