Wakefield Trinity coach issues 3-word order ahead of huge game v Wigan Warriors
Wakefield Trinity’s players have been given a three-word instruction as they chase a play-off place: “Hold your nerve.”
Boss Daryl Powell reckons seventh-placed Trinity are “in a good spot” after 14 Betfred Super League rounds and a top-six finish is in their grasp, if they stick to their guns. Despite a lengthy injury list, they have won half of their league fixtures so far and five of Wakefield’s seven league defeats have been by four points or fewer, including both the past two.
“We're in a tough block of fixtures,” the coach admitted ahead of tomorrow’s (Friday) home clash with Wigan Warriors. “We played Leeds, had Leigh last week, we’ve got Wigan this week and then Hull KR - that's about as tough a block of games as you’re going to get.
“We’re not far off, the teams we’re playing against are pretty much picking from strength so we’re getting a lot of confidence from what we are doing. You don’t know how the season will pan out - look at Leigh and the run they went on to get into the play-offs last year. We’ve just got to hold our nerve.
“We knew we were going to go through tough periods, but we’ll start to get some troops back and who knows? I don't think it’ll be defined in the next couple of games, it’s a journey for us and the top-six is there to be got into.”
Having been promoted at the end of last year, seventh in the table at this stage far exceeds most pundits’ expectations for Trinity. “If you’d said at the start of the season that this would be our position, I would have given it the thumbs up,” Powell added. “We are in a good spot. This week is one of the biggest challenges for us and another great opportunity for us to show what we're about.”
The task now, Powell accepts, is to turn narrow defeats into wins. “I spoke to [Leigh coach] Adrian Lam after last week’s game and he was talking about how close most of our games are,” Powell said. “The disappointing thing for us is we’ve come down the wrong side of five of those close games. If you convert even two of those, you’re in a different position. We’ve had a pretty heavy injury toll as well, which has been difficult - but it has extended our depth.
“There’s some competition that maybe wasn’t as close at the start of the year, like Josh Rourke and Max Jowitt. It has been great to see some of our players grow and we’re deeper than we thought we were. We’ve got some tough challenges coming up, but we’re learning more about ourselves every week.”
Wakefield Trinity from: Jowitt, Walmsley, Scott, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, McMeeken, Hood, Nikotemo, Griffin, Pitts, Vagana, Pratt, Lino, Cozza, Rourke, M Russell, Croft, Harvey Smith, Myers, Faatili.
Wigan Warriors from: Field, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall, French, Harry Smith, Havard, O’Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis, Mago, Byrne, Leeming, Dupree, Hill, Eckersley, Forber, Farrimond, Douglas.
Referee: Aaron Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.