16-02-2025
Everything Sam Burgess said after Round One victory
WHILE admitting he expected his team to be 'a tiny bit better' than they were, Sam Burgess was happy to see his Warrington Wolves side get off to a winning start in Super League 2025.
The Wire were victorious over Huddersfield Giants in Round One as second-half tries from Matty Ashton, Toby King and Matt Dufty saw them reverse a half-time deficit to win 20-12 at the John Smith's Stadium.
After the game, Burgess was asked about his side's performance, the selection calls he made and his thoughts on Round One as a whole – including the much talked-about St Helens-Salford clash.
Here is everything the Wire boss had to say…
Q: After some of the results this weekend, you must be happy to get out of here with the job done and two points in the bag?
SB: We're happy with the two points.
It wasn't a very polished performance, but there's areas in there you could see we've worked on.
We've got a bit to fix up but like I said, we're happy with the two points. We'll take it.
Q: The clunkiness with the ball – do you put that down to it being Round One or something more than that?
SB: I expected us to be a tiny bit better, but we lost our way a little bit.
You could say it's a Round One thing – we've not really had a friendly but I think we'll be better for it on Friday night.
Q: Do you think you'll take a bit more from having a game like that than you would have done if you'd have had a blow-out scoreline?
SB: I'm glad we had that contest – I thought Huddersfield were much-improved.
They looked a lot better and they challenged us in a lot of areas. We'll be better for it, for sure.
Q: What do you think dragged it back for you having probably been second-best for the first 20-25 minutes?
SB: I thought our defence was pretty good and at the start of the second half, we started getting our jobs done a bit better with a bit more urgency.
We honestly looked a bit lethargic and our body language looked pretty poor. Those are the bits I'm not happy with, but we found our way into the game and in the second half, we turned it around.
We got into our processes and our kick chase looked a bit better. We struggled to score points but we got enough to win.
Q: You'll want players like Matt Dufty to make a difference in games and I guess he did that in scoring a try and making two in the second half?
SB: He's a quality player – a really talented player.
We're always challenging him to get better in every part of his game, so he'll be better for the run-out.
I thought George (Williams) was as scratchy as I've seen him, so he's only going to get better.
Those boys are so determined, and they'll be so much better.
Q: You made a couple of selection calls that may have raised some people's eyebrows – you went with Stefan Ratchford over Oli Leyland, was that just you wanting more experience in there?
SB: It's just the way I felt on selection day. It was hard to choose between them but I went with a bit of experience.
Oli's been awesome and would have done a very good job for us, so it's a tough one.
Oli's handled himself really well and has been a really good pro.
Q: What was behind James Harrison and Rodrick Tai missing out?
SB: I expect them to be banging on my door!
It's a healthy spot to be in and I'm happy we're in this position.
Jimmy's had a disrupted pre-season and hasn't trained a lot, and I thought Zane (Musgrove) had been good for us.
Arron (Lindop) has had a great pre-season and took his points well tonight. Rod's got a couple of things to tidy up, but it's a healthy position to be in with the competition.
Q: Any injuries picked up?
SB: I've only had a brief chat to the medical guys but it doesn't look like there's anything too drastic.
Q: On Stef, he's shown his versatility over the years but can he nail it down at half-back do you think?
SB: To be clear, Leon Hayes is my long-term seven at the club but we all know he's had a couple of injuries.
It's not really Stef's role but he's so experienced and is a calm head. It's valuable having him for that stuff and he's close to George and Duff, which probably got him over the line.
Leon's a few weeks away but until then, we'll do what's best for us.
Q: Was 'The Burgess Cup' mentioned at all during the week with your brother?
SB: He didn't talk to me all week – he's got a bungee jump to do as well!
He bet me that if he won, I'd have to do a bungee jump but if I won, he'd have to do it so let's find a big one!
Jokes aside, I thought Huddersfield were much better. They were composed and physical through the middle. They've adapted well to what they're doing and challenged us.
Q: How do you think your brother got on?
SB: He was steady away – he'll add a bit to them and he'll grow into his role.
The comp is a bit different here in terms of style of play, but he's a big body and is hard to handle.
Q: Would you consider changes next week or was that a good enough performance?
SB: We've only got one session this week as we're playing Friday night, so we've got to recover and go again.
We'll only get one big session to have a look, so it's hard to make changes unless I'm forced to make them.
More than likely, we'll continue the way we've gone and get those combinations a bit better.
Q: What have you made of the weekend?
SB: It's been brilliant and the games have been fantastic barring the debacle we all know about.
That's been handled poorly and there's been a lack of leadership from everyone. It's a black mark on the comp and takes away from the integrity of the table.
If you look at how tight it was last year, it's going to have a direct impact on the end of the year. I'm just telling the truth about it.
How we've got to that stage, I don't know – I don't know enough about it – but aside from that, Round One has been brilliant.
Let's hope it continues – the contests have been good and it's brilliant. It's been a good start to the year.
Q: What did you make of your team's decision to use the captain's challenge so early?
SB: Let's hope we get a bit better because I thought it was a poor choice.
It's new, so they're going to get it wrong on occasion. We've just got to be careful it doesn't slow the game down too much – just make a decision and get on with it.
The boys are in the heat of the moment so I get it's a hard task, but as time goes on I think players will learn to bank it and keep it for the last 15-20.
