Daryl Powell explains Toby King omission

Warrington Head Coach Daryl Powell has confirmed Toby King was dropped for Friday’s game against Hull FC.

Powell made two changes to the side that had lost at Wakefield a fortnight ago, with King the most notable absentee. The other to drop out was Kyle Amor, who had a minor muscle injury.

He previously missed their round one clash against Leeds with an injury, and was also left out of their visit to Catalans last month. Apart from that, King had played in every game for Warrington this year.

Powell said his form had not been good enough, so left him out for this game. He had started with Peter Mata’utia there, although he would change positions with Stefan Ratchford in the halves.

He said: “I’m just trying to get the best team out there. You know, obviously, I left Toby (King) out. I feel like he’s been below his best for a few weeks now. And I felt like that needed to happen to change that left edge. I felt like the left edge was pretty stiff.

“I just felt tonight that he (Mata’utia) would give us that sense of organisation that perhaps we haven’t had enough.

“He was phenomenal, Pete actually. I felt the way he dealt with Manu Ma’u defensively was class. That’s their strongest edge, obviously the lost Luke Gale early on, but their left edge is really strong and I thought Pete was phenomenal in dealing with him.”

No update on Joe Philbin from Daryl Powell

One potential concern for Warrington was the withdrawal of Joe Philbin in the second half with a knee injury.

The game had to be stopped while the doctor came on and helped him off the pitch alongside the physio.

Powell added on him: “When players go down, and there’s no contact. You’re always a little bit conscious.

“I haven’t got an exact diagnosis at the moment. And obviously he’ll get well looked after and hopefully he’ll be alright.

“He’s an unbelievable bloke, Philbs, and I hope he’s going to be alright but it didn’t look good.

“So we will see how that rolls over the next three or four days when he gets a scan and see where we go from there. It’s his right knee.”

Warrington 4-0 Hull: Warrington win try-less encounter