Wakefield Trinity star to miss Salford Red Devils, races against time to be fit for Leeds Rhinos derby
An influential Wakefield Trinity player is in a race against time to be fit for next week’s derby at Leeds Rhinos, coach Daryl Powell has revealed.
Stand-off Jake Trueman returned from a long-term back problem when Trinity beat one of his former clubs, Castleford Tigers, at Magic Weekend earlier this month. That was his fourth appearance of the season and he didn’t play in last Sunday’s 40-10 thrashing of Warrington Wolves, despite being in the initial squad.
Speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Thursday), Powell confirmed Trueman won’t feature at home to Salford Red Devils in three days’ time. Trinity visit Rhinos for a BBC-televised Betfred Super League clash on Saturday, May 31 and have the following weekend off when the competition breaks for the Challenge Cup final.
“He has still got this on-going back issue,” Powell said. “He has had some treatment, a couple of jabs in his back and we are hoping that’s going to resolve pretty soon. I haven’t got any news on that at the moment, but he won’t play this week. Hopefully he will be in and around it [after that]. We play Leeds and then there’s the Challenge Cup so we’ll see how he comes through that period.”
Trueman’s Tigers career was ended by an anterior cruciate ligament injury midway through the 2022 season. That and an Achilles problem disrupted his time at Hull, limiting him to just 26 games, but asked if he has long-term fears over the 26-year-old’s fitness, Powell insisted: “I don’t think so. It’s just something that has reared its head and we are hopeful this treatment is going to fix it up.”