Steve Price is living a coach’s dream as he deliberates this week on where to place Blake Austin and Greg Inglis in his team.
The Warrington Wolves coach’s controversial decision to drop Austin from the side that travelled to Perpignan on Saturday was vindicated by a 24-8 victory over Catalans Dragons.
Stefan Ratchford switched from fullback to stand-off to fill in for Austin and his partnership with scrum-half Gareth Widdop was a winning combination for the Wolves, leaving Price with “a good headache” as he prepares his team for Saturday’s home game against Hull KR.
“I’ve got some tough calls to make, but it’s a good headache to have,” he told League Express.
“Blake Austin is an important part of our team, but I thought today the best way of going forwards was with Stef and Gareth and it worked out okay.
“Our kicking game was really positive. We turned them over in good spots and pressed in other areas.
“It was a really good performance by the boys. We got our systems right and to keep Catalans to one try for a full 80 minutes is a really positive performance for us.
“I’m super proud of all the boys, it was a tough old game of footy. The effort area has certainly improved, which we’ve been asking for and they certainly delivered on that.
“We know what sort of team we have, it’s about small improvements. We’ve been a bit fluffy earlier on in the season, we’ll be the first to admit that, but there are parts of our game that are really good and defensively we were really solid against a side that is a really strong attacking team.
“We’ll build on that and we’ll take a lot of confidence from it into our game against Hull KR back at the Halliwell Jones next week.”
The long-awaited return to Rugby League for Greg Inglis is likely to happen on Friday, leaving Price with a decision about where to play him.
“Greg will be playing next week somewhere in the 17, and I’ll make that decision later in the week,” he said.
Price reported no injury concerns from the Catalans match, adding: “We’re really happy with how it went. It’s a tough trip coming to Catalans and they deserve a big rap for what they did last year travelling to the UK so many times.
“It’s a very long day for the players and staff and I’m just happy we came away with the win.”
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