Warrington Wolves vs Leigh Leopards Prediction: Visitors can land a big win

Warrington just want their season to end after hitting a new low last week with defeat at home to crisis club Salford, and the last thing Sam Burgess would want is the visit this week of playoff-hungry Leigh Leopards to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. (15:00 BST, Sky Sports+)

Leigh are jostling with Leeds for third spot, with St Helens tucked in just behind, so this trip to Warrington could prove hugely significant in the race for play-off spots.

Team News

Wire head coach Sam Burgess made 5 changes last week and saw his side crumble against a team of loanees. Burgess has nonetheless been backed as the man to continue to lead the Wolves next year.

This week he is without his star man, England captain George Williams having been ruled out with a shoulder injury. That is one of a further four changes made by Warrington as he looks to arrest their recent slump in what is the final home game of their campaign.

Ewan Smith drops out through concussion protocols having failed his Head Injury Assessment, with hooker Ben Hartill and outside back Alfie Johnson also excluded.

Lachlan Fitzgibbon returns after concussion protocols after failing an HIA which ruled him out last week, while forward Sam Stone is back having been left out against Salford.

Youngsters Ewan Irwin and Cai Taylor-Wray are also named.

Influential prop Paul Vaughan is still sidelined.

Leigh were without three key men last week as they beat Castleford 46-6. Ethan O'Neill, Owen Trout and Joe Ofahengaue all missed out and were all said to have chances of returning this week according to boss Adrian Lam.

But of the three, only Trout is named in this week's 21-man squad.

Warrington Wolves vs Leigh Leopards Odds

Warrington are 16/5 to get the win, while Leigh are the 1/4 favourites to come away with the victory. The draw is priced at 20/1.

Handicap 3-way Warrington Alternative 1 Leigh -14 @ 7/5

After what they have served up in the last two games against Huddersfield and Salford I don't think you would get many people backing Warrington here, despite the home advantage.

The Wolves just need the season to end and pre-season for 2026 to start. Leigh on the other hand have plenty to play for - a top-four spot, the playoffs and potentially a Grand Final, if Lam's men can build on their back-to-back wins against Castleford and Salford.

These two teams only actually met last month and Warrington should have won it. Somehow the Wolves dominated the game and threw it away at the death as the Leopards came through 20-16, with 18 of those points coming in the last 13 minutes.

So Warrington clearly know how to break down this team, which should give the home fans hope.

But I can't ignore what I have watched in the last fortnight and I can't see much for Warrington to cheer, especially with George Williams absent.

I'm looking at a Leigh win to maintain their end-of-season momentum, and a victory by two to three scores.

Umyla Hanley anytime try scorer @ 5/4

When we back Leigh, we are usually looking either at their outside backs or hooker Edwin Ipape in the anytime scorer market.

Ipape has come up short for us in the last couple of occasions that we have backed the PNG star, so this time I am looking at Umyla Hanley to shine again.

This powerful outside back is dynamite on his day, and his two tries in that win over Warrington last month is reason for optimism ahead of this fixture.

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