MATTY Russell hopes his return to the side can help Warrington Wolves hit their peak at the right time of the season.

Wolves host St Helens tonight, Thursday, 8pm, knowing a point from their final two games would confirm a spot in the Super 8s.

Russell has featured in two wins since returning against Wigan a fortnight ago after being out since April 2 with an ankle injury.

“We looked at that table three weeks ago and we were a bit worried because we were around seventh spot and there were a few teams creeping up, playing well,” said the Scotland international.

“The last two wins were massive for us and hopefully we can kick on into the next two games.

“It’s the best time to come alive as a team, we’re probably not where we want to be but we could potentially finish fourth.

“As long as we’re in the Super 8s we could hit our peak and we’re looking to improve each game. It’s pleasing because at times earlier in the season we were struggling.”

Russell is looking forward to tonight’s clash including lining up against Saints’ hat-trick scoring debutant, full back Adam Quinlan.

“Seeing him come over and doing well is good for their club, they’ve struggled for full backs this year and it’ll be nice to play against him,” added the 22-year-old.

“They’ve got some really good players, the half backs are good and then the forwards are taking them forward too.

“It’s going to be a tough game and we always have tough encounters with them. They edged us at Magic.”

Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith insists his side must produce a better second half than in the defeat at Magic Weekend.

“I know they’ve had the odd up and down, the week before the coach wasn’t too happy with them, but they’ll be a challenge,” he said.

“They’re a good attacking team. They take some chances, they’ve got some terrific outside backs and big forwards so they’re a hard team to handle.

“We’ve had some good contests with them already this year. We put a good 40 minutes together against them at Magic and they put a better 40 minutes in the second half.

“There wasn’t much between us, but they got on top of us when it counted. We’ll need to play for a bit more than 40 minutes this time.”

Wolves’ pack will be boosted by the return of Ben Currie, Ashton Sims and Anthony England from suspension.

“They’re three big forwards and it’s probably come at a good time with the four-day turnaround, so we’re pleased,” said Smith.

“We’re not pleased they were suspended in the first place but it’s nice to have some fresh bodies back at a time we’re having a difficult period through injury and suspension.”

Sam Wilde drops out of the 19, while Toby King is also expected to feature for the under 19s on Friday.

“The young guys have done a terrific job for us,” added Smith.

“It’s a bit unfortunate, I don’t think Sam Wilde will take too long to be back in the first grade but we just felt we needed a little bit more experience this week.

“Toby is class and we’ve seen that before. He’s just returning from injury and didn’t get much game time at the weekend so we’d like to give him some game time against Wigan on Friday.

“Young Sam has been fantastic in his first two Super League games and certainly caught the eyes of the coaches and many of the supporters.

“He’ll be back in in the near future, there’s no doubting that.”