03 March 2023 , 20:08
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George Williams admits high-flying Warrington have had a “reality check” - and still need to prove they’re the real deal.
They’ve won all three of their opening Super League games to hint their miserable 2022 is well and truly behind them. But they had to rally from a 20-6 deficit to defeat Salford 36-20 on Thursday.
And England stand-off Williams - whose attacking brilliance inspired the resurgence - recollects the same cracking start last season before wobbling Wolves lost TEN of their next 12 fixtures. He conceded: “We know we were in this position last year, winning our first three.
“It does feel way better now. It’s a different environment and different team. But we are just taking it week to week and the reality check is we need to win at Hull KR next Friday. It’s a tough place to go, another test for us. They’ve started well beating Wigan and then a good Salford side. It’s a challenge for us.”
But there’s no doubting Warrington have the makings of a transformed outfit in Daryl Powell’s second season in charge. Williams admitted: “Last year we’d have probably lost that game against Salford.
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“Defensively we weren’t where we wanted to be in that first half. Salford were great with the ball. We weren’t on and they pulled us to pieces a little. We found ourselves in a sticky situation.
Williams in action against Salford (Gareth Evans/News Images)“I threw an intercept and we were chasing the game but we showed what we’re about this year. We’re not getting carried away. It was a great win but we can’t start games like we did. I’m just really happy we dug in in some adversity and found a way to win.”
The match turned when Salford’s Ryan Brierley was harshly yellow carded for interference just before the hour. Warrington were trailing 20-10 at that point but scored three unanswered tries while the full-back was in the sin bin. Williams, who’d already set up tries for Ben Currie and Matty Ashton, laid one on a plate for Josh Thewlis and then danced through to score himself.
It was a perfect response from the World Cup star whose wayward pass was picked off by Ken Sio for Brierley to initially put Salford in charge. Williams, 28, insisted: “I back myself. Nobody wants to throw an intercept. I was disappointed with that. But you just have to brush it off and keep playing. When they went down to 12 men we had to take advantage of it and we did.”