Wakefield Trinity 'in good place' but coach Daryl Powell makes 'too comfortable' warning

Betfred Super League round 16 began with Trinity - who play host to Huddersfield Giants on Sunday in front of the Sky Sports and SuperLeague+ cameras - in fifth place, level on points with three other teams and four behind top spot. Powell’s side were taught a lesson in a 48-10 home loss to Wigan two weeks ago, but bounced back to pick up an impressive 36-10 victory at Hull FC last time out and he insisted: “We are pretty happy.”

With a dozen games left in the regular campaign, Powell admitted: “We had a little bit of a rattler in terms of the Wigan game - they are playing at another level at the minute and we were well below our level, but overall we are in a good place. We can’t afford to get too comfortable, that’s the thing.

“We have got a good opportunity to improve and get after these 12 games. We are over half way through the season and we’ve given ourselves a really good platform.

“It is about kicking on now and being consistent in the way we play and making sure our standards don’t drop too much. There’s been a couple of games where they’ve dropped and we have to make sure our worst performances are a little bit closer to our best.”

He added: “That comes down to individuals being tuned in and ready to play the game every week and delivering what we know we can. It’s all those standards things we hold ourselves accountable to and then we’ve got a good opportunity to do something special.”

Giants are bottom of the table with just two wins under their belt in 2026, though one of those was away to Wigan. “They have got a new coach and he is talking about increasing their fitness levels and things like that,” Powell – who has added drafted former Featherstone Rovers forward Jordan Williams into his 21-man squad – noted ahead of tomorrow’s game, which will be refereed by Tom Grant.

“New coaches have an impact and I think they might have a few players back this week. If you take all that into account, it comes down to us just focusing on us and making sure we are tuned in.

“Looking at Huddersfield, the way they have played the last two weeks, they are having a dig. I think that’s certainly the case. I think we have to be mindful if you sit off a team and let them play, then every rugby league team is dangerous. They have a lot of quality players and we need to play well.”

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Scott, Johnstone, Trueman, McMeeken, Smoothy, Rodwell, Nikotemo, Tevaga, Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Smith, Vagana, Sinfield, Rourke, Lolesio, Williams, McGann, Tate, Abraham.

Huddersfield Giants: from Evalds, Swift, Gagai, Milne, Lolohea, Powell, Burgess, O’Donnell, Rogers, English, King, Rush, Cozza, Flanagan, Patolo, Sykes, Russell, Wrench, Geyer, Jagger, Dunford.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds). Kick-off: Sunday, 3pm.