Moany Tony

[OJ]

After all the Wolves coach had to say about us and our tackling techniques including how he had lost a 'special player for the rest of the season' this piece in the local rag pleased me somewhat:

WOLVES boss Tony Smith admits that hooker Mickey Higham ‘deserved’ to be punished for his dangerous contact with Paul Sykes in Sunday’s demolition of Bradford Bulls.

Higham was banned for two matches and given a £300 fine by the RFL’s disciplinary panel at Red Hall in Leeds on Tuesday night – meaning he will miss games against Wakefield and Catalan – and though Smith accepted the result he believes that too many other dangerous incidents go unpunished.

“Mickey was guilty of a dangerous tackle and deserved to get a punishment,” he said.

“But there are plenty of other dangerous situations that go unchecked on a regular basis.

“It comes down to different people’s interpretation of what is dangerous and what is not.

“But that is just the way it is, we have to take it when it happens to us and hope they pick up all the others.”

Otherwise, the mood is generally good in the Wolves camp, particularly after Smith rewarded his players’ 12-try demolition of Bradford Bulls with three days extra holiday.

Following the disappointment of the Challenge Cup exit against Wigan Warriors, Wolves responded brilliantly against Bradford Bulls with Ryan Atkins, Joel Monaghan and Brett Hodgson claiming career-high individual scoring records on Sunday.

Atkins’ quartet of tries took his season’s tally beyond his previous best 19 with Wakefield in 2006, while Hodgson’s two tries and five conversions means he has broken his previous personal points haul in a season - taking him past the 308 he scored for Wests Tigers in 2005.

Monaghan’s hat-trick broke his previous record of 21 tries for Canberra in 2003.

Smith said: “I am pleased about the performance but it wasn't that surprising.

“We didn't really have to pick ourselves up that much as we are pretty confident in our own abilities and know that when we play well, we can beat anyone.

“We performed well and the players have got three free days over the weekend.”

While there were no further injuries to Wolves’ squad during the hammmering of Bulls, Smith is still waiting on the fitness of Lee Briers (calf), David Solomona (Knee) and Adrian Morley (eye).

While Briers and Solomona both hope to be fit for the visit of Wakefield next week, Morley's head injury shows no signs of recovery.

“There were no further injuries and everyone seems in good shape,” said Smith.

“But Adrian is still a way off, his recovery is going very slowly and we will continue to take it easy with him.”