Carvell: Fully Prepared
Prop forward Garreth Carvell returned to his old stomping ground last weekend when the team took on Hull FC at the KC Stadium.
"The reception I got wasn't as bad as I expected to be honest so it was a pleasant surprise. It ‘s always good to go back there, it's a great stadium and it was even better to get one over on them and come back with the two points.
"They were quite dominant in the first half but in the second we had a purple patch of 12 minutes that made all the difference. It's always a difficult ground to go to, difficult travelling over there, so to come away with the two shows a bit of grit and determination by us, so was very pleasing."
This Sunday will see the side make a second trip to Humberside to face Hull KR, a team that Garreth believes will put up a good fight.
"They'll be smarting from the defeat at Salford so they'll certainly be hoping to put things right throughout this week and it's a perfect opportunity to have a game against one of the top teams, Grand Finalists from last year. They could turn their season round even at this early stage. It's going to be a tough game and we are fully prepared for that but are looking forward to it."
And on their game-makers he added: "There's their halfback Michael Dobson, he's always pretty good, and they've made a few good signings too, Cory Paterson in the second row, I've been watching him on the few Sky games they've had and he looks quite strong. There's also Craig Hall who is quite underrated and with him having a connection to Lee Briers I think he'll be up for it as well, and the likes of Greg Eden too as he's good in attack. They are quite dangerous all over the park so it's going to be a tough game and we'll really have to be on our guard."
On a personal note Garreth has recently reached a career milestone of 300 appearances.
"I felt quite good about it until I saw Ryan Giggs has played 999 games, so I haven't even scratched the surface yet (laughs). It's great to have played over 300 games and to play at Warrington as well. It's quite special. I hadn't realised how many I'd played but it explains quite a few of the aches and pains I've got.
"The Challenge Cup wins are up there and the first Grand Final I played in with Hull, and obviously my debut and first games for each club. There's quite a lot in the memory bank for me to tell the grandkids when I'm an old man."
As an England International Garreth was impressed with the quality of last week's World Club Challenge and is looking forward to the international scene at the end of the year.
"It was a high intensity game and Melbourne were deserved winners but Leeds did well. They had been gearing up for the game but for Melbourne to come over in those sorts of conditions and play as well as they did it just shows how good they are. The game also showed how competitive we are in Super League. It would be great to go over there next year when we win the Grand Final and play their champions (smiles)!
"First and foremost I'd like to play for well for Warrington. I'm a notoriously slow starter it takes me four or five games to get going so this is my get-going game this weekend. Hopefully I'll get in the squad to face the Exiles and for the World Cup at the end of the year as well; there's everything to play for this year. It's going to be a long, tough season but there'll be a lot of benefits from it and memories created."
Team News out tomorrow at 2pm on warringtonwolves.com
Match tickets for Sunday's game are on sale in WolfWare and on 08448 11 11 76 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
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(Picture courtesy of swpix.com)
28, Feb, 2013
