Stefan Ratchford returns for the clash with St Helens

Ratchford's only appearance since the Grand Final in October was to make his England debut against France and the Wolves have sorely missed their playmaking full-back during their woeful start to the season.

When the 28-year-old sustained a knee injury in training during England's Four Nations campaign, Warrington coach Tony Smith described it as a bigger blow than losing Chris Sandow after the Australian scrum-half walked out on the club in the close season.

Watching his side lose their opening five matches of the season has been agony for Ratchford but he is able to see the positives as he prepares to make his comeback.

"It was before we went out for the last field session before the Australia game," he said of his freak injury blow.

"I was doing a bit of prehab stuff in the changing rooms and something clicked and locked in my knee. I couldn't bend my leg. The doctor and physio were hoping something had got caught and they could trim it out and it would be four to six weeks recovery.

"But I went to see the surgeon and he said it was worse than we thought and that it would be four to four and a half months recovery time.

"It's been frustrating but I'm kind of glad it happened when it did because I've missed five games. If it had gone unnoticed, I could have come back for pre-season and missed four months from then.

"The plan was to get back for around this time."

 Smith admits having to throw Ratchford back into Super League action without any match practice is far from ideal and says his hand has been forced by his team's predicament.

The Australian has already used three different full-backs, as well as four different half-back pairings, in five league games so far as he looks to stop the rot.

"I think full-back has been an issue for us this year," Smith said. 

"Aside from Kurt Gidley against Brisbane, I don't think we've made a fist of it and it's such a crucial position.

"Stef hasn't had any warm-up games so we're hoping that he hits the ground running really well. He'll give us a boost, having that experience back along with Chris Hill last week.

"We're in need of a full-back and in need of his experience so we've got to throw him in."

Warrington's early-season injury problems eased with the return of captain Chris Hill for last week's game at Leigh but second rower Ben Currie remains sidelined and they have now lost the experienced Atkins with a hamstring problem sustained in training.

Toby King will replace Atkins for the trip to Langtree Park after recovering from injury while Jack Johnson is standing by to switch from full-back to wing if Tom Lineham is suspended when he faces a disciplinary on a charge of striking.

Warrington are preparing to face England scrum-half Matty Smith, who is expected to return for St Helens from a broken leg.Smith, who rejoined his home-town club from Wigan at the end of last season, suffered the break during Saints' pre-season friendly against Widnes in January.

Saints coach Keiron Cunningham said: "Matty has trained with us for a couple of weeks now so isn't far off."