I could probably get used to this Tuesday night Rugby League stuff.

A battle. An arm wrestle. Absolute knife-edge stuff. Call the evening’s rescheduled fixture between Hull KR and Warrington Wolves what you will. It was all of those things for around sixty minutes, until George Williams broke through the Rovers line to produce a moment best characterised by his pre-match words on Sky Sports:

‘Here I am. Back in the mix.’

Much discourse in the run up to the match, rescheduled from round two due to Hull KR’s World Club Challenge hosting of the Brisbane Broncos, had been about the hosting team. Mikey Lewis (who we will get to, don’t worry about that) was coming back from a four-week ban, Sauaso Sue was back after a week out with a knock, and Arthur Mourgue was returning from what at this point appears to be a permanent state of injury in the 2026 Super League season. Had Rovers been able to win, they could have been seen to be hitting their stride at the right time, and peak at the optimum moment for attempting to defend their Super League crown. 

Instead, they shipped the record number of points at Craven Park since Peters began his tenure, and the focus was the visitors and the ways in which they reminded us to not forget about them just yet. A couple of late tries from the Rovers meant they were only beaten by a scoreline of 34-28, but that scoreline flatters the hosts greatly based on both sides’ performances in the final quarter of the game.

In just his second game back since suffering a neck injury that required surgery and a four-month layoff, Williams demonstrated to viewers how the Wolves will see themselves as worthy contenders come September. James Bentley was employed as Warrington’s chief troublemaker to test (or to, more accurately, goad) Williams’ opposite number, the returning Mikey Lewis, to see if four weeks away from the game had done Lewis any good. When Lewis was sent to the bin with ten minutes left in the game after charging at a Ewan Irwin kick with his studs up, one thing became clear: it had not. Tevita Pangai Junior, himself not long off returning from a lengthy ban, was a mound of grass away from connecting with Bentley with a punch when the game got to its tensest. 

Warrington dealt with the occasion, Hull KR did not. 

To write off this season’s quiet yet high-flying form, as a gross overachievement to be settled and happy with would be a mistake. Coach Sam Burgess has pushed his side not only to an almost-confirmed playoff spot, but also to having an outside chance of winning the League Leaders’ Shield should Leeds or Wigan slip up. As questions begin to circle around Leeds regarding their ability to cope with absences, and Wigan’s own suspect record when it comes to injuries this year, the return of the England captain could prove to be an incredibly timely one. 

And even in Williams’ absence, 18-year-old Ewan Irwin has cemented himself as having the potential to become a superstar halfback of the English game, with admirers being plenty and doubters being few. It’s hard to discuss young halves without piling mounds of pressure on their young shoulders, but in Irwin’s case, to say that the sky is the limit doesn’t seem anything close to hyperbole. With Williams leaving at the end of the season to return to the NRL with the Dolphins, the Wolves could be doing a lot worse than leaving custody of the halves with young Irwin. 

A reported hamstring injury to Josh Thewlis could provide a spanner in the works for the final rounds of the season, but their run-in is arguably the easiest of the sides around them at the top of the table, with three of their final four games coming against Huddersfield, Hull FC, and Toulouse. By dealing with the defending champions in the manner they did on Tuesday evening, Warrington have taught us a crucial fact:

They’re back in the mix.