Friday 24 March 2017 23:31, UK
Tom Mordey picks out three key battles as Wolves look for their first win of the season against Saints on Friday night, live on Sky Sports 2.
Two teams who would be expecting to be doing so much better. It's ninth versus 12th in the Betfred Super League on Friday night, but those two sides are St Helens and Warrington.
So whose season is about to turn a corner, which club's is about to get worse? Here are three head to heads that might decide it:
Matty Smith v Kurt Gidley
Big news for St Helens: Matty Smith is back. Keiron Cunningham has confirmed the winter signing from Wigan has recovered from a broken leg suffered in pre-season and will play his part on Friday night.
Whether or not Smith will start remains to be seen, but given the magnitude of this game it seems worth the risk. There's no doubt St Helens have missed him. Jon Wilkin played in the halves against Catalans, while they also blooded youngster Danny Richardson earlier in the season.
Smith's kicking skills and game organisation played a big part in guiding Wigan to Grand Final success last season. And expect him to link up nicely with Theo Fages, whose brilliant performance helped Saints past the Dragons last week. Smith's second coming for the Saints could be a game changer.
Kurt Gidley has swapped between half-back and full-back this season, but he returned to the scrum- half role in the defeat to Leigh last week. And with Stefan Ratchford available for the first time this campaign, Gidley is likely to stay there.
We got a close up view of the Australian in action thanks to Playercam, but he, along with the rest of his Warrington team-mates, has struggled for form so far in 2017. Gidley has provided just two try assists so far this season, way down on his total of 16 last year.
If the Wolves are to find their feet this season, the partnership between Gidley and new signing Kevin Brown could be key to their chances. Will they find top gear against St Helens?
James Roby v Daryl Clark
St Helens might be nowhere near their best so far this campaign, but you can expect James Roby to continue hitting his high standards.
He's joint-top of their try assists chart with three, and is providing his usual darts from dummy half, 43 so far this season, making an average metre gain of 9.39m a drive - far more than any other team-mate.
Roby may be behind team-mate Jon Wilkin in the tackle count, but he's still made 183 hits so far, and missed just five, the lowest of any Saints player who has made over 75 tackles.
Nobody will be hurting more than him at St Helens' poor form this season. Expect him to take the game by the scruff on the neck on Friday and hit Warrington where it hurts around the ruck.
Daryl Clark's improvement in 2016 was one of the big reasons behind Warrington's Grand Final and Challenge Cup final appearances. He signed a new contract this winter, resisting the overtures of the NRL.
Things haven't gone to plan, but Clark himself is still delivering some impressive statistics. He's the top metre-maker in the Wolves side with 513, and has made at an impressive 9.33m per drive. You know Clark will attack from dummy half; he's made 33 probing runs from that position so far.
People often forget the hard work Clark does in defence in the middle - he is second in the Warrington tackling rankings in 2017, with his 198 hits just behind Joe Westerman. If the pack can make some hard yards, expect Clark to make hay in the middle of the pitch.
Alex Walmsley v Chris Hill
Both sides will need to graft to get away from the bottom of the table, and that starts in the front row. So who better to look to for hard yards than St Helens' very own wrecking ball, Alex Walmsley.
He's miles clear in their metre count in 2017, racking up 705m so far at an average of 7.12m a drive. That's 116m more than any other team-mate and a whopping 281m more than any of his fellow front rowers. He slipped behind Kyle Amor in last year's metres tally, but Walmsley is well clear so far this campaign.
Throw in his team-best 11 offloads and you have a front rower producing sensational statistics. So, despite their poor start to the season, Keiron Cunningham must be delighted with the impact his prop forward is having, especially in a World Cup year.
Boy how Warrington needed Chris Hill back, but even their skipper couldn't inspire them to a win over his old club Leigh.
He ran his blood to water as normal; 14 carries for 95 metres and 34 tackles for good measure. Hill is consistently one of Warrington's best players, and one of the best in Super League as well.
He's topped Wolves' metre count for the last two seasons, and also their tackle count for the last four years, highlighting exactly why he's held in such high regard by not just the Warrington faithful, but all the opposition too.
Expect him to be leading from the front once again on Friday night as he fights his way back to top form.
St Helens: Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Luke Douglas, Theo Fages, Tommy Lee, Tommy Makinson, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Ryan Morgan, Jack Owens, Mark Percival, Dominique Peyroux, Greg Richards, James Roby, Matty Smith, Adam Swift, Zeb Taia, Adam Walker, Alex Walmsley, Jon Wilkin.
Warrington Wolves: Kevin Brown, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Dominic Crosby, Brad Dwyer, Rhys Evans, Kurt Gidley, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Jack Johnson, Toby King, Harvey Livett, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Matthew Russell, Andre Savelio, Ashton Sims, Joe Westerman, Ben Westwood.
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