Tony Smith has sparked life back into Warrington and Stevo sees that continuing at Castleford.
In-form Briers can seal sixth win in seven for Wolves
The Wolves head into the Jungle this weekend in buoyant mood following their amazing cup win, and the bad news for Castleford is that they seem to be getting stronger from week to week.
Warrington are gelling nicely under new coach Tony Smith and that's plain to see. When he joined in March they'd lost their opening three games by an average of almost 20 points and looked on course for a season of underachievement.
However, since then they've enjoyed the most dramatic of turnarounds and have now won five of their last six games, the latest that dramatic sudden-death victory over Hull KR. You talk about trying to build team spirit, well look at the scenes of celebration to Lee Briers' golden drop goal. For a player to drop a goal like that and seal your place in a semi-final, well you don't get much better than that.
They'll be eager to carry on with their improvement, none more so than Smith. He'll be telling his players that the Challenge Cup win is only one game. Okay, they're in a semi-final but they've still got work to do. Castleford aren't going to lie down here.
Playoff push
The Tigers haven't had it easy of late and again, in an ironic twist of fate, a losing quarter-finalist plays host to a winning one! Terry Matterson will be saying the exact same things that Justin Morgan has been this week; that they've got to focus and ensure they make the playoffs.
Castleford haven't won a Super League game since their trip to the Celtic Crusaders at the end of April, and their home form is even worse, just two league wins at the jungle all season, the last back in March. That's a big problem for them. They were very unfortunate not to have gotten a draw against Leeds but if they look back through the videos of recent games, they'll realise that they do have the quality.
And again, a twist of fate: Michael Shenton finds himself in the England squad and that'll not just give him a big lift, but also the whole team. Brent Sherwin and Rangi Chase have been in superb form for Castleford, but unfortunately for them the former is missing on Saturday. Chase is a great distributor and creative player and is most definitely the key man for the Tigers.
Strength in defence
Castleford sit two places above Warrington in the table but their form suggests a change is not far off. I think a big difference is that the people around Smith seem to be handling the pressure a lot easier these days. Their defence is a lot stronger, they're working as a unit but they are also sharing the workload.
Adrian Morley and Garreth Carvell are playing out of their skin at the moment bu unfortunately for the Tigers, so is Lee Briers. I think that on Saturday he will be looking towards showing everybody - including the people at Warrington - that he's still got it. His crossfield kick for Matt King's try against Hull KR was superb. He's looking more balanced on the field of play and to me he looks like he's really enjoying playing.
A huge factor in this game will be how the players have recovered from last week. Both teams were involved in very physical matches and I'm sure there are a few carrying knocks. And if they're key players, they could well be forced to turn out regardless of whether they're 100 per cent fit or not.
Stevo says
Away win - It's very rare I can say it, but I'm going to stick my neck out and go for a second away win this weekend and predict a Warrington win. I think the Wolves will continue on with their improvement. They are the form side going into this game and I think that will stand to them.
Stevo's star man
Lee Briers (Warrington) - Sometimes Briers has this habit of disappearing during a match but he's bouncing at the minute. He's on the springboard. When he's in form he's very difficult to hold down. If Sherwin and Chase were both fit to play the Tigers could well beat Warrington. However, with Sherwin missing I'll have to go with Warrington.
