Wholly Trinity! Top four is still in their grasp
WAKEFIELD have been one of the success stories of the Betfred Super League season – and they can take another big step towards a top-four spot against St Helens tonight.
A win would knock another team out of the running for the play-offs, with Saints unable to catch them going into the final two weeks.
Trinity made the top eight last season but they were appalling at the end of the year, losing every Super Eights match.
They seem to have drawn a line in the sand and said that wouldn’t happen again, and it’s been different this time with wins over Leeds and Salford.
John Kear ( far right) has come into the club as head of rugby and his excellent skills have complemented those of coach Chris Chester (right).
John is very experienced and driven and I think those two have dovetailed together nicely. The club recruited well, particularly at prop where Craig Huby and Mitch Allgood have given them some really strong front-row rotation.
They’ve still got a bit to do and I believe if they don’t make the four it won’t have been a successful season – there’s no point in being there all year then faltering in the final straight.
But their destiny is in their own hands which is what you want at this stage.
It isn’t for Saints, and even if they win all their three matches now they have to rely on other teams.
They’ve been playing a better brand of rugby recently but have come up just short. They can run Wakefield very close and I expect it to be a hell of a game at Belle Vue.
Talking of St Helens – at Hull KR last week we played them in a reserves match which was effectively a friendly with there being no proper competition now.
It was such a great education for some of our academy lads to play against senior pros.
There are a lot of negatives around the game, and one positive news story would be for the RFL to decide every Super League club has to step up and have a reserve team again. At Hull KR we’ve half-run one this season and the costs are nowhere near what some people have chucked about.
It’s a cost that Super League clubs have to swallow – people want to see it return and young players need the opportunities it would provide.