Smith keen to build momentum

Tony Smith believes Warrington’s recent upturn in form should give them plenty of confidence going into the Middle 8s.

Wolves face Widnes on Thursday hoping to make it four wins from their last five games and Smith has urged his team to keep their momentum going.

“We’d like to get better runs going throughout the season, but we’ll look forward to making a bit of a run now,” said Smith.

“That’s all we can control and the fact that we showed a bit of form coming into the back end is a positive. We need to continue in that vein and ensure we perform well over these coming weeks.

“I think any team will take form as and when they get it. As to when it occurred we can look back and find a little bit of frustration, but at the same time it’s important that we find it, keep it and build on it from here on in.

“We don’t want to feel that we’re not playing well going into the Middle 8s. We want to build on some of our recent performances, so that’s the focus and Widnes is a very important game for us.”

With the Middle 8s exposing Super League’s bottom four to the prospect of relegation, Wolves will be eager to follow the likes of Leeds and Huddersfield who both avoided the nerve-racking Million Pound Game last season.

Salford’s dramatic victory over Hull KR consigned the Robins to the Championship and Wire forward Mike Cooper wants to avoid the showdown this year.

“We don’t want to be in that,” said Cooper.

“People forget our contracts – you’re playing for your career in that Million Pound Game. It can be stressful, so we don’t want to be in that position.

“A win (at Widnes) will give us confidence. We want to win every game in that competition so we don’t put ourselves in that situation.”