Richard Agar backs Warrington's England hopefuls

Of the Wolves' six players in the 30-strong elite training squad, skipper Chris Hill (pictured) was the only one selected for the mid-season Test against Samoa, although Stefan Ratchford received a late call-up following injury to Gareth Widdop.

Ben Currie is a long shot for the end-of-season World Cup as he continues his rehabilitation from major knee surgery but Agar believes a strong second half to the season can help Mike Cooper, Daryl Clark and Kevin Brown reclaim their England spots.

"We were disappointed that we only had one player selected (originally) but it was probably rightly so," Agar said. 

"It's a reflection of our start to the year and of our form up until Easter that we only had one player good enough to make the squad.

"I think by the time the World Cup comes around at the end of the year, we'll be disappointed if our team isn't playing well enough to get some of the other guys a little bit closer to the line. That's the challenge for us."

After starting their Betfred Super League campaign with six straight defeats, Warrington have taken nine points from their last five matches and victory over Hull at the KCOM Stadium on Friday night would lift them out of the bottom four for the first time.

"We've been patchy but I think we've shown some real signs," Agar said. "At the start of the year we were even struggling to get down the field but our metre-age is much higher than it was and the amount of tackle busts and quick play-the-balls that we're getting has lifted enormously.

"We're attacking holes a lot better and, although errors are still killing us, we've shown a tremendous amount of grit and resilience."

The Wolves are boosted by the return of two of their England discards, Cooper and Clark, as well as Scotland international Matty Russell, to give head coach Tony Smith more options.

"I think it's the first time this year that Tony has had a selection headache for the right reason," Agar said. "There were times when we've been shuffling the chairs and trying to get a team together late in the week.

"On the back of four wins and a draw, hopefully we've got momentum and to have three guys back is a boost."

Hull are still without injured Man of Steel Danny Houghton and have lost prop Liam Watts to a one-match suspension but Agar, a former head coach of the Black and Whites, says his side's opponents possess a unique attacking threat in stand-off Albert Kelly.

"He's the real X factor for them this year," he said. "He's able to stick the hammer down when he's got the ball in his hands and run in the tightest of holes and it's quite deceptive how strong he is in contact.

"I think he's added a different threat to the Hull FC offence this year."

Another bottom-four team, Leigh, will be aiming to complete a notable double over St Helens when they go to the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night.

The Centurions' 24-16 win at Leigh Sports Village in February was the start of a run that brought Neil Jukes' promotion-winning team six points out a possible eight but they have lost their last five matches and crashed out of the Challenge Cup at the hands of Hull KR last Saturday.

Caretaker Saints coach Sean Long said: "We have played Leigh once so we know what they are all about but this week the focus is purely on ourselves and getting our attack right.

"The defence has been looking good all year but we need to tidy up our attack."

St Helens have Tommy Makinson back from injury and could give a debut to 19-year-old hooker Jonah Cunningham, son of former coach Keiron.