Smith still targeting the top eight

Warrington boss Tony Smith still believes his team can still qualify for the Super 8s.

Last week’s victory over Catalan left Wolves three points behind Wigan and Huddersfield with four games of the regular season to play, but Smith says he hasn’t given up on breaking into the top eight.

“I’d suggest we’ve got to win each game and that’s doable, but we’ll just focus on this week first (against Wakefield),” said Smith.

“We had the scenario last week that it was probably necessary to win that one and we found a way to do that, so we’ve got to find a way to do that this week.

“The focus will be to perform well and the result will take care of itself.”

Warrington have had the upper hand against Wakefield in recent times, winning eight of their last ten meetings, but Smith admits Chris Chester’s side are dangerous opponents.

“It’s important for us to build on what we did last week and that’s what we’re keen to do,” he added.

“Wakey have got some good attacking abilities and we’re going to have to be wary of that. They’ve got some terrific outside-backs that have got genuine speed and they can cause you problems.

“The pitch is in their advantage, but we’ve had some better performances there over the last few years so there’s no reason why we can’t go and do a good job.”

Smith’s enthusiasm over his team’s top eight hopes are mirrored by his players, with Jack Hughes agreeing with his boss that Wolves can catch the teams above them.

“We are a bit dependent on results, but all we can do is set out to win all our remaining games,” said Hughes.

“We’ve ticked Catalan off, now we want to get Wakefield and then we’ll move onto Leigh. We’re not looking any further than our opponents this week and hopefully that’ll see us good with a couple of results going our way elsewhere.”