TONY Smith has named a provisional 20-man squad for Warrington Wolves’ opening pre-season friendly with Widnes Vikings.

Wolves will host neighbours Vikings at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Sunday week, December 28, kick off 3pm.

New recruits Ashton Sims and Gary Wheeler are in line to make their first Wolves appearances.

Toby King, fresh from England Academy duty, and brother George make the squad as do young forward Tom Walker and exciting half back Declan Patton.

Simon Grix is still in rehabilitation following a serious leg and ankle break last season, while Ryan Atkins does not feature after a cartilage operation.

Wolves’ Four Nations representatives Daryl Clark, Stefan Ratchford and Chris Hill are yet to resume training, while Joel Monaghan’s recent return from Australia sees the prolific winger miss out.

Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby says his side are raring to go with the majority having began training in November.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Smith. “It’s always one of those games with great rivalry with our neighbours.

“The boys love it because they’ve been in training for so long they want to get out there and put it into action.”

Smith believes the atmosphere in Wolves’ camp to be better than ever.

“It’s fantastic, there’s a real good vibe about them,” he added. “It’s always good this time of the year.

“Most teams and most coaches will tell you in their pre-season training everything goes well and everybody’s enthusiastic.

“I’ve got to say in my 14 years, coming into 15, as a head coach it’s probably the most upbeat group I’ve ever been around in terms of training and attitude towards training.”

The 47-year-old credits that buzz to fresh faces among both the playing and coaching staff.

“I’m going to put it down to a few things,” he explained. “A few new additions have freshened things up in terms of coaching staff.

“We’ve got some freshness with (Richard) Agar and Mick Turner as our conditioner. That’s given us a real boost around the place.

“Two new recruits have joined in, Gary Wheeler and Ashton Sims, who've been fantastic with the players and settled in really well.

“They’re really enthusiastic and positive people and that’s rubbed off on the whole squad. It’s been a really energetic pre-season and full of good spirit. We’ve a lot of able bodies and they’re all training the house down."

Wolves squad to face Widnes: Roy Asotasi, Ben Currie, Anthony England, Ben Evans, Rhys Evans, Micky Higham, George King, Toby King, James Laithwaite, Richie Myler, Gareth O’Brien, Gene Ormsby, Declan Patton, Kevin Penny, Joe Philbin, Matty Russell, Ashton Sims, Tom Walker, Gary Wheeler, Paul Wood.