Warrington Wolves coach issues update on injured duo following Leeds Rhinos victory
Warrington Wolves celebrate a try against Leeds Rhinos at Magic Weekend in 2024
Warrington head coach Sam Burgess has delivered an update on the injuries of Matt Dufty and Lachlan Fitzgibbon following the Wolves’ 24-6 win against Leeds Rhinos at Magic Weekend.
The Wire rounded off day one of the event at Elland Road with a hard-fought victory on Saturday night, seeing Rodrick Tai sin-binned 10 minutes into the second half alongside Leeds forward Sam Lisone.
That pair had been centre stage of the second melee in as many minutes, with Leeds also having had David Fusitu’a shown yellow just a few minutes earlier for a tackle off the ball on Wolves winger Matty Ashton.
As a result of their win, 3rd-placed Warrington move level on competition points with Hull KR, who currently occupy 2nd and take to the Elland Road turf against Catalans Dragons on Sunday evening.
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Warrington Wolves coach issues updated on injured duo following Leeds Rhinos victory
Full-back Dufty was the man of the match in Saturday night’s win, scoring a second half hat-trick.
In the first 40 though, The Australian had taken a knock to his right knee, and never looked comfortable for the rest of the game – despite his try-scoring heroics.
Post-match, Burgess detailed: “We nearly brought him off about five minutes into the second half, but then something happened and the play stopped for a while.
“We just tried to get him a bit further in the game (after that) and I think as he kept going, he warmed up a bit.
“He’ll be sore tomorrow, and we’ll just have to see how he’s looking next week.”
Fitzgibbon meanwhile has played just one game since the Wolves’ Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan Warriors back on June 8.
After an initial absence, he returned in their home victory against Huddersfield Giants on July 5, but was forced off in that game having picked up a problem with his shoulder, and hasn’t been able to take to the field since.
Explaining a bit of a setback in terms of the forward’s new expected return date, Burgess said: “We’ve given him another couple of weeks just to take the pressure off him.
“He’s been trying to play every week and it’s a bit of a rollercoaster when you’re doing that without ever quite getting there.
“We’ve taken the heat off him now and given him a couple of weeks to really attack his prehabilatation and stuff a bit more.
“There’s no rush with him. We’ve got a healthy squad at the moment, so there’s no point taking a big risk with him.
“This week has been my hardest 17 that I’ve had to select. (Adam) Holroyd missed out, (Joe) Philbin, Max Wood and quite a few others. It was a tough team to pick this week.
“You will see him (Fitzgibbon) before the end of the year though.”
