SL preview: Warrington v Widnes (Thu)

Captain Adrian Morley, centre Ryan Atkins and scrum-half Richie Myler are all absent for Tony Smith’s Warrington side, as they welcome Widnes to the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

In more positive news, St George Illawarra-bound forward Mike Cooper returns to the 19-man Wolves squad after a medial ligament injury.

For the Vikings, who have won just twice in their last 12 matches in all competitions, make two changes to their matchday squad.

Centre Stefan Marsh, who has a dislocated shoulder, is out for the season and is replaced by Danny Craven, while in the forwards Dave Allen replaces Tom Gilmore.

Warrington 19-man squad: C. Bridge, Carvell, Cooper, Currie, Dwyer, Grix, Harrison, Higham, Hill, Hodgson, Laithwaite, McCarthy, J. Monaghan, M. Monaghan, Ratchford, C. Riley, Waterhouse, Westwood, Wood.

Widnes 19-man squad: Ah Van, Allen, K. Brown, Cahill, Clarke, Craven, Gore, Hanbury, Hock, Isa, Joseph, Kavanagh, Lawton, Leuluai, Mellor, O’Carroll, Owens, Phelps, Winterstein.

Prediction: Widnes are in freefall, while Warrington are in play-off mode. Home win.

Stats:

Chris Bridge needs two tries to reach a career century of touchdowns.

His total of 98 has been scored as follows: 4 for Bradford (2003-2004), 88 for Warrington (2005-2013), 1 for England (2009-2011), 2 for Ireland (2006-2007) and 3 for Super League Under-21s (2003).

2013 meeting – Widnes 38-22 Warrington (SLR9, 29/3/13)

Super League summary:

Warrington won 9

Widnes won 6

Warrington highest score: 68-4 (MW, 2012) (also widest margin)

Widnes highest score: 38-22 (H, 2013) (Widest margin: 31-10, H, 2004)