Coach Daryl Powell says home form is 'priority' as Wakefield Trinity can secure top-6 with win v St Helens

Coach Daryl Powell’s side have slipped two places to fourth in Betfred Super League over the past week, but are eight points ahead of seventh-placed Saints with just five rounds remaining in the regular season. Trinity are in only their second campaign back in the top-flight, following a year at Championship level and securing a top-six finish so early would be an impressive achievement for Powell and his players.

Speaking at his weekly press conference today, Powell said: “We were in the play-offs last year, that was a battle with Hull right to the end and we won that. This is a little bit different, but I don’t think we should be looking too far ahead - just get this job done against St Helens.

“We have found them really tough to play against the last couple of years. We’ve been a developing club and I feel like we are in a great place at the moment and we are getting better all the time.

“A win last week against Leeds would have been handy, but it is what it is. There’s key lessons for us, we move on and we need to play well tomorrow. We’ve got three home games and two away, starting with this one, so it’s a big game for us.”

Trinity are without Jay Pitts who suffered an arm injury during the 24-22 loss to Leeds in a game Trinity led 16-0 and 22-6. He’s replaced by Jordan Williams in the only change to Wakefield’s 21-man squad.

Deon Cross and Nene Macdonald are back in contention for Saints in the Sky-televised clash which will be refereed by Aaron Moore. Young prop Alfie Tate could make his first team debut, but George Whitby drops out of the team which lost to Hull FC last week, along with Jake Burns and Alfie Sinclair who were unused members of the initial squad.

Saints have been wracked by injuries all year and Powell stressed: “We can’t worry about St Helens and what they are going through. We’ve just got to go and play our game and be a little bit more consistent than we were last week.

“If we get that right, it’s there for all to see what we can do. We just want to do it more consistently in big games and this is a great opportunity for us. Home games are really important - we’ve got this one, Warrington and York and if we win those three I think it puts us in a great position, regardless of what the other two look like. We want to win them as well, but our home form is a real priority.”

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Scott, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, McMeeken, Smoothy, Rodwell, Storton, Tevaga, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Smith, Vagana, Walmsley, Sinfield, Myers, Rourke, Lolesio, Williams, Tate.

St Helens: from Welsby, Robertson, Cross, Sailor, Walmsley, Wright, Host, Murphy, Shorrocks, Macdonald, Douglas, Davies, Humphreys, Hastings, Marsh, Suluka-Fifita, Keeley, Evans, Matagi, Campbell, Tate.

Referee: Aaron Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Saturday, 5.30pm.