Warrington Wolves v Hull FC: John Cartwright braced for backlash as hosts bid to keep season alive

A home date with the Black and Whites offers Warrington the chance to breathe life into a season that is in danger of fizzling out following their Wembley defeat to Hull KR.

Sections of the Halliwell Jones Stadium crowd are turning up the heat on Burgess but Cartwright is wary of the wounded Wolves.

"Three weeks ago, he was a couple of minutes away from winning the Challenge Cup final against all the odds," said Cartwright.

"He'll know what his team is capable of and what he needs to do to get them there. Sam always took a lot of pride in his performance as a player and he's no different as a coach.

"The hangover from the Challenge Cup is probably over for them now and there's a realisation that they need to start winning. They're back at home and don't want to let their fans down."

A win at Warrington would effectively leave five teams chasing four play-off spots, significantly improving Hull's prospects of a first top-six finish since 2020.

The Airlie Birds are unrecognisable from the side that finished joint-bottom last year, yet continue to face questions about their consistency.

Cartwright, however, is pleased with Hull's form in 2025.

"I've been reasonably happy with our consistency," he said. "We've won more than we've lost.

"We've had to deal with a lot of injury along the way. We'd love to win every game that we play but that's not a reality.

"There has been the odd game where, for whatever reason, we haven't given ourselves opportunities and given the other side way too many. You struggle to win when you do that.

"I think players are starting to understand where we need to be good each week.

"We've won three of our last four so we're not too concerned about our consistency.

"We'll do our very best to get the job done against Warrington and then at the end of the game we'll reassess where we're at before moving on to St Helens."