Fitness boost is 'good challenge' for Wakefield Trinity boss but England ace could miss Leeds Rhinos derby
Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl has had a new kind of selection headache for tomorrow’s game at Huddersfield Giants.
Having struggled for numbers this year, Powell has Renouf Atoni, Matty Storton and Jake Trueman all back in contention following injury as Trinity aim to bounce back from a 16-10 loss at Hull FC last week. “It gives us some more options,” Powell admitted of the improving injury situation ahead of Friday’s game.
“It’s starting to look a little bit healthier. It’s a good challenge for me to pick the right team and get that right when I’ve got more options. Generally, I’ve been just picking who’s fit, so this is a little bit different.”
Tom Johnstone remains sidelined with a groin injury and Powell admitted the England winger is also a doubt for next Thursday’s home derby against Leeds Rhinos. “Tom went to see a specialist [on Wednesday] just to get a diagnosis on something that has reared up and he has been in a fair bit of pain,” Powell said.
“Hopefully, it's not going to be anything too major. He’s not available this week, then we’ll see where he is. Fingers crossed, he’ll start to get back to fitness, but at the moment I haven’t really got any timescales on that.”
Last week’s performance, when Trinity let slip a 10-0 half-time lead, was a rare blip in an encouraging first season back in Betfred Super League. Powell feels Giants, who are second from bottom in the table, are improving and will present a serious threat if his side aren’t better this time.
He warned: “They’ve got some players back. They've signed Matt Frawley from Leeds, George Flanagan has been going pretty well and potentially, Niall Evalds comes back in this week. They’ve been pretty good, I thought they had a chance to go 16-0 up against Wigan last week and they are dangerous, but we can’t be doing anything other than looking at ourselves and our best performance.
“I think if you’re anything like not there in terms of your mentality, then you get beat. We saw that last week in the second half. You just can’t afford to switch off. Everybody can beat everybody in this comp. We know it’ll be a tough challenge.”
Meanwhile, Powell said Trinity could have more signings for 2026 to add to overseas recruits Tray Lolesio, Jazz Tevaga and Tyson Smoothy, who have already been announced. “We won't be far off, but I think we've still got some cap space left,” Powell revealed. “At the moment, we are looking like we’ll have a pretty good squad next year. You never say never, there's always some little bits and pieces of business to be done.”
Huddersfield Giants: from Gagai, Swift, Jake Bibby, Halsall, Lolohea, Woolford, Burgess, Rushton, Golding, English, King, Wallis, Cudjoe, Powell, Milne, Billington, Evalds, Rush, Flanagan, Jack Bibby, Frawley.
Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Walmsley, Scott, Hall, Trueman, McMeeken, Hood, Nikotemo, Griffin, Pitts, Doyle, Hamlin-Uele, Atoni, Storton, Vagana, Lino, Rourke, Smith, Myers, Faatili, Lingard.
Referee: Aaron Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.