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7:40am Tuesday 26th August 2008

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WARRINGTON Wolves will get a welcome few days off this week as they prepare for the crucial final stages of the season.

Wolves have no game at the weekend because of the Challenge Cup Final but return to action at home to Huddersfield on September 5 before the play-offs start a week later.

Head coach Jimmy Lowes will give his players some time off to freshen their minds and bodies ahead of the business end of the year.

He said: “We’ve got Wembley weekend off, so the lads will have a few days off.

“We’ll train the early part of this week, have a couple of days off and then train from Sunday until the game against Huddersfield.

“Is it beneficial? It depends how far you go in the play-offs.

“It’s nice to have a couple of days rest sometimes but it’s nice to continue playing.”

Meanwhile, Lowes believes junior development is a key area of focus for Wolves.

It was highlighted as a rare area of weakness by the panel that scrutinised Super League licence applications for the 2009 campaign.

Yet Warrington had six Academy products in their ranks as they defeated the world club champions Leeds Rhinos at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on August 2, and there were seven in the 17 that pushed current Super League leaders Saints to the wire at Knowsley Road on August 9.

One of them, back rower Lee Mitchell, scored a wonder try against Leeds that will long live in the memory, as did winger Chris Riley against St Helens, while the likes of prop Mike Cooper and back rower Matty Blythe have been making their presence felt as well.

However, Lowes, impressed with those players who have stepped up to the plate, does not feel that Wolves’ production line is yet rivaling those of some other Super League clubs.

He said: “We’ve got a long way to go with our development of the juniors.

“The guys in there are doing some great work and we’ll continue to monitor that and get the best junior players we can from around and abouts, and keep trying to develop them.

“We’ve had to use our younger players this year because our injury list is a long-term injury list.

“To be fair, the players who have stepped up have been great, there are no complaints there.

“But junior development’s going to work and work over years and hopefully we’ll bring it up to the standards of some other Super League clubs.”