WOLVES head coach Tony Smith hailed the return of several injured stars as crucial in his side’s 52-18 hammering of Leeds Rhinos.

Smith’s men recovered from conceding a first-minute Jimmy Keinhorst try to run in nine scores of their own, with Gene Ormsby and Daryl Clark crossing twice each.

The returning Brad Dwyer, Ryan Atkins, Kurt Gidley, Stefan Ratchford and Tom Lineham all scored one each in Wolves biggest ever Super League win over the defending champions.

Smith says it was “pleasing” to see his side get back to the techniques that have brought them success.

“It was a nice way to bounce back from us, we’ve been off in certain areas but we’ve fixed them up and it really showed tonight,” he said.

“Our defence was strong, we got back to where we were defensively which was good, I thought both centres were outstanding.

“Ryan Atkins had his strongest game for a while while Rhys deserves a mention as well, some of his defensive reads were exceptional.”

While much of the pre-match talk surrounded the return of influential scrum-half Chris Sandow, he was arguably outshone by hooker Dwyer, who marked a superb stint off the interchange bench with a first-half try.

“Both hookers were very good, of course you’re going to miss Chrissy Sandow when he’s not playing but I think we’ve really missed Brad Dwyer,” Smith said.

“Even when Daryl goes off, he can still give you that intensity.

“Chrissy’s combination with Gids picked up again and Stefan Ratchford made that link-up even better, I thought he dealt with the change of position terrifically.”

The visitors were still in touch at 18-12 down at the break, but Wire cantered away in the second half to record an ultimately crushing win.

Smith said he was delighted with how his side stepped things up after the interval.

“Our attack was good, particularly in the second half but we got a little kick-happy at times and maybe could have scored more tries,” he said.

“Once we got the right combination of when to kick and when to attack we did some good things.

“They took some breaking down, they're desperate and it was game on right up til half time.”