Warrington coach Daryl Powell is excited to see new signing Josh McGuire make his long-awaited debut for the club after completing a seven-match suspension.
The former Australia and Samoa international joined the Wolves on a two-year deal in the off-season from NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons.
But it wasn’t an ideal start to life at Warrington for McGuire. He was banned for seven matches for using ‘unacceptable language’ in a pre-season friendly against Leigh.
He has now served his lengthy ban and will finally make his Warrington debut in Saturday’s clash with Catalans in Perpignan.
When asked about McGuire’s pending return, Powell said: “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Obviously it was a pre-season game and gets a seven-game suspension so for him, he’ll be excited.
“He has been busting a gut to play and I think that’ll be the more important thing for him, letting his rugby do the talking.
“He’s a quality player, he has got so much going for him, he is a rugby nerd, he absolutely loves the game, so he just wants to get out there.
“I’m excited to see him play. He doesn’t have to do everything in the first 10 minutes would be my message to him.”
Daryl Powell drops hint on Josh McGuire selection
Powell says there is a strong chance McGuire will start the game against Catalans, more than likely in the loose forward position.
Powell said: “He’s a ball playing middle as well as a leg speed/line speed player.
“He’ll bring some things defensively that we’ve been pretty good at, but maybe what we could be a bit better at.
“His work with the ball will add a little bit. We’ve had to mix it up, I’ve put Sam Kasiano to start at times and Daryl Clark has played a little bit at 13 but then we lost both of those guys (to injury) so we’ve been sort of trying to find our way of playing in slightly different ways. He will bring that connection between the halves and middles and he’s shown that he can do an outstanding job at that in that regard.
“He’ll bring a fair bit to us, I just want to get him out there enjoying his rugby league and he’s playing in some pretty big games over the next few weeks which we are all excited about.
“There’s a strong chance he’ll start. We’ll see how he goes in training this week, he’ll train tomorrow and we play Saturday so we’ve got three days of prep but my intention is he’ll be there from the start.”
Going to France never easy
Warrington sit at the top of the Super League table, having won their first seven games of the season. The Wolves are the only team in the competition to have won every game so far.
Sitting just below them are Catalans, who have won six from seven, and Powell knows it will be a physical encounter on Saturday.
He added: “They are a big, physical team and playing in France has always got its own challenges.
“They are going well, they are a big, physical team so we need to play well.
“We’re not going there thinking they’ve been scratchy, they’ve been winning games and thats what it’s all about.
“You win in different ways, we’ve seen that with us as a team this year. They will be a real challenge for us, I think they’ve got a couple of injuries here and there and their team has changed quite a bit. That’s probably the hardest thing to pick, is that they’ve changed their team quite a lot due to injuries and what Steve (McNamara) wants to do from a selection perspective so we’ll just go there to play our best rugby league, that’s what we’re in charge of, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Warrington’s top of the table clash with Catalans on Saturday will be televised by Sky Sports from 5pm.
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