Wakefield Trinity coach issues glowing half-term report, makes lessons learned vow for Leigh Leopards visit
Wakefield Trinity have been given a positive half-term report by coach Daryl Powell.
Trinity began Betfred Super League round 14 in seventh spot, three points behind tomorrow’s (Sunday) third-placed visitors Leigh Leopards. “We’ve had half a season, we’ve been class in that and we want to get better now and continue to show how good we can be,” Powell said of his side who were promoted at the end of last year.
“We’ve been really competitive; if we have lost games, they’ve been pretty tight - we’ve lost four within four points so we’ve been there or thereabouts. We’d want to flip them a bit, if we’d won some of those tight games we’d be in a lot better position than we are now, but I think we’ve learned a lot of lessons. There’s been a real growth of belief in what we can do.”
Trinity won at Leigh three months ago, but were beaten at home a week later in a Challenge Cup rematch. Powell described this weekend’s opponents – in a BBC 2-televised clash – as a “pretty formidable team to play against”.
He said: “They are in the top-six pretty comfortably and they’ve been pretty tough to beat all the way through. They are big and physical and they’ve got some players in there who can cause you a lot of damage, so your physicality, defending against them, has to be really good.
“They are just a good team. They’ve been building for a number of years - from a similar position to us a few years back - and they’ve got a really good coach who gets them all heading in the same direction.”
It will be an emotional afternoon for Powell and he added: “It’s one-all so far so it’s an interesting game and an important game for us, looking at where we sit and how we’re going. I’d like to see us really get after this game. It’s a 50-50 game, I think - they are a good side and so are we, so it’s a good challenge.”
Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Walmsley, Scott, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, McMeeken, Hood, Nikotemo, Griffin, Pitts, Vagana, Pratt, Lino, Cozza, Rourke, M Russell, Croft, Smith, Myers, Faatili.
Leigh Leopards: from Armstrong, McIntosh, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Hughes, Liu, Tuitavake, Davis, Dwyer, Brand, Badrock, McNamara, Hodgson, Ofahengaue.
Referee: Jack Smith (Wigan). Kick-off: Sunday, 2.30pm.