Why Wakefield Trinity are 'excited but calm' for huge clash with Super League's 'best team' Leeds Rhinos

An eighth successive win would take second-placed Trinity level on points with Leeds after 22 of the 27 regular season rounds. Wakefield coach Daryl Powell insists that makes it a crucial encounter, but not make or break.

He said: “We’re at home, against first - they’ve been the best team all year, pretty much and I think it’s obviously a very tough game and a big game. But I think it’s important you don't blow it up too much.

“It’s not a be-all and end-all, but we want to play well and we want to win the game. We want to show how good we can be against the best teams - I think that’s where we’re at now at this stage of our development as a club and a team.

“We want to be up there. We’ve got to prove we belong up there in those high echelons of the table. I think this is a great opportunity to do that.”

Trinity were playing in the second-tier Championship just two years ago and Powell admitted it has been a “quick turnaround” to where they are now in Super League. However, he stressed: “We haven’t done anything yet.

“We’ve got six games to show that we can mix it at the top of the table and show how genuine we are as a team. I think that’s what it's all about at the moment. Everybody’s talking about us having a chance, but words don’t mean anything.

“It’s just about how good we can prove we can be on a rugby field. The boys have done a class job so far and this is just a really good marker of where we want to go and how far we are down that track against the team that everybody’s saying is the best in the comp.

“[We are] excited, but calm. When you’re playing the game of rugby league there has to be a certain amount of emotion in there, but you just don’t want it to spill over because that then takes away energy and we’re going to need a lot of energy. I don’t think we need to over-hype the game, it does that itself.”