Rugby League: Adrian Morley confident he can succeed

May 10 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

WARRINGTON captain Adrian Morley is confident he can succeed where each of his predecessors have failed over the last 14 years by leading his side to victory at St Helens today (3pm).

The Wolves visit the renamed GPW Recruitment Stadium in the fifth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup hoping to avoid a third derby defeat of the season.

Morley, who celebrates his 31st birthday today, is desperately hoping a change of name brings a change of fortune, for Warrington have not won at Knowsley Road since 1994 and it is 39 years since they last beat their arch-rivals in the cup.

They lost 25-14 in the quarter-finals at Knowsley Road last year despite leading 12-4 at half-time and losing Morley in the first minute with a head injury.

Morley, who helped lift the trophy at Wembley with Leeds in 1999, said: “There is no reason why we can’t be as competitive as we have been in the two previous games we have played against them this year.

“We actually led for the majority of those games and we put ourselves in a position to win those two games. We need to do more of the same.

“We’re conscious that we have to play for 80 minutes against Saints but I don’t think that we have a psychological barrier when it comes to playing them.

“I feel Saints raise their game against Warrington, as they should for a local derby, as we do, but I think in the past we have been guilty of letting our foot off the gas when we could be putting games to bed.

“It’s going to be tough but we are looking forward to it.

“There is nothing like a cup tie to get everyone fired up. I think the fact you don’t get two bites of the cherry in the cup means I won’t need to do much motivation. The boys know that it’s do or die.”

It is 18 years since Warrington last reached the Cup final and 34 years since they last got their hands of the prestigious trophy.

St Helens, on the other hand, have a cup record without parallel in recent years.

They have won it for three of the last four years and have not failed to reach the last eight since 2000.

But coach Daniel Anderson, who hopes to complete his final season in the English game with a hat-trick of cup successes, is taking nothing for granted.

“Although we have won the Challenge Cup for the last two years we do not view it as defending our cup,” he said.

“Rather our mentality says we have won it and now we want to win it again.

“It should be a tremendous cup tie. Both sides have plenty of intelligence on each other. The issue we have to be aware of is not being over-confident and cocky.

“We have to prepare diligently and be respectful because Warrington are a dangerous team.”

Meanwhile, Widnes will be aiming to create Challenge Cup history tomorrow.

If Vikings beat Hull FC they will become the first team to overturn Super League opposition as a lower division club three times.

They beat Workington Town 17-10 in 1996 and Castleford Tigers 14-4 in 2006.