Warrington Wolves skipper Michael Monaghan says the Wolves are out to improve in their next match against Wigan to give a complete 80-minute performance.
And Monaghan, who will play the final game of his career if the Wolves bow out of the playoffs at the DW Stadium this Friday, has revealed that the club could welcome back injured pair Matty Russell and Ben Westwood for the game against Wigan.
“We started better than we did last week against Widnes,” Monaghan said, speaking of the Wolves’ 14-30 defeat of Castleford Tigers on Thursday.
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“We probably controlled the first 20 minutes and they scored a lucky try off a kick which turned the momentum of the game a little bit. It was more of a scrap after that. But you always knew that the work we did in that first 20 minutes would pay off later in the game. It was a good performance and good to move on to the next round.”
But Monaghan, who topped the Wolves tackle count with 31 in the win over the Tigers, says coach Tony Smith wants to see more from his side.
“We were very good defensively, but we were a bit off attack-wise,” said Monaghan.
“And then we’ve had other games when we were pretty good in attack but not so good defensively. If we can get both facets of our game working well on the same day we’ll be dangerous and tough to beat. That will be our focus this week.”
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The Australian veteran knows Wigan will be a tough opponent and claims that his side knows the Warriors well. Wigan beat the Wolves in last year’s Grand Final and came from behind to beat the three weeks ago in the final game of the regular season.
“We lost that game but probably should have won it,” Monaghan said.
“We’ll enjoy the challenge. They’re playing good footy and they’ve probably been the most consistent team all year.”
