Sunday Best: Wolves lick their wounds after early thrashing

This is not the way it was supposed to be for Warrington. They have been many people's choice as the club from outside Super League's inner circle most likely to break through and have a shot at winning it.

With a much stronger squad than last season, the Wolves were widely expected to trample Salford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium last Sunday but they were thrashed 24-6. Three new signings - Stuart Reardon, Paul Rauhihi and Rob Parker - picked up injuries that rule them out of today's visit to Huddersfield.

"The Salford game was an expensive fixture for us," says their coach, Paul Cullen, with some understatement. Reardon, the former Bradford and Great Britain winger, is the most seriously hurt. A broken bone in his hand will keep him out for six weeks, although Cullen has a replacement in Richie Barnett, signed from Hull at the end of last season. Rauhihi, a Tri-Nations winner with New Zealand, has a hamstring problem. Parker, another Bradford recruit, turned an ankle. Lee Briers and Chris Leikvoll are doubtful with knee and neck injuries respectively.

It all adds up to a demanding afternoon for the Wolves against a Giants side who performed creditably in a 20-12 defeat at Leeds in their opening fixture. Like Warrington, they have invested heavily, notably bringing in Robbie Paul, whose half-back partnership with Chris Thorman already shows signs of being highly effective.

Also today, Hull, so ruthless in their opening-night defeat of Castleford, host Wakefield, who led for much of the game against Bradford before losing 20-14. It is a quick reunion with his old team-mates for Sid Domic, who joined Hull from Trinity and made an impressive debut, scoring a try and setting up another last Friday.

Wakefield have strengthened, too, bringing in seasoned forwards such as Monty Betham and Ned Catic. It says something about their ambition that they were annoyed rather than encouraged by a narrow loss to the champions.