PACE ODDITY
Tom: I’m weird & winging it!
TRINITY wing Tom Lineham reckons his former club Warrington are struggling because they have lost his oddball influence.
The 29-year-old Wakefield star revels in being different, with a Marmite quality – you love him or hate him.
And he is convinced his out-there approach can help Wakefield climb the table, starting with a win over Salford today.
But he is also sure that Warrington, who have been struggling under new boss Daryl Powell, are in dire need a dose of his peculiar feel-good factor.
The Wolves ended the rot of a five-game losing run with a dour 4-0 win over Hull on Friday, but their hopes of getting out of jail and gate-crashing the title fight look slim.
Lineham said: “It’s more like Warrington HMP now than Warrington Wolves. I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes under the new regime.
“They would have despised me because I say what everyone else is thinking. But there are a lot of good people at the club and I think they can turn it around.”
Lineham was part of the self-styled Positive Reinforcement Crew (PRC) in his six years at Warrington, along with five team-mates.
He recalled: “We kept everything together, so if there were any disputes, the PRC would sort them out.
“You build houses with bricks, but you need the mortar to keep it together and that’s what the PRC did.
“The public didn’t know how imperative we were, but every year we were fop four and in semifinals at the minimum.
“Steve Price loved it and really embraced it when he was coach, as did his assistants Andrew Henderson and Lee Briers.”
Jake Mamo joined Castleford this season, leaving Toby King, Robbie Mulhern, Joe Philbin and Matt Davis as the remaining PRC members.
But Lineham says it cannot work unless all six players are together – and he won’t be able to just form another PRC at Wakefield.
He said: “You cannot just create one. Over the years, the culture at Warrington developed and it was vital.
“But you need everyone. The best way to describe it is if you’re making a dinner and you’ve only got four ingredients and two are missing – then it’s not going to be right.”
Lineham will today play his fourth game following his return from the serious knee injury he picked up in February.
He said: “With each game, I’m building confidence. I’ve been a bit off the pace, which is disappointing, but I’ll get better.
“I’m really enjoying it at
Wakefield. The playing group seem to have embraced my
weirdness and out-there ways.”
Wakefield are secondbottom, one below today’s opponents on points difference, but they come into the clash as the form side of the pair.
Trinity have won their last two games – against Hull and Warrington – whereas Salford have lost to Hull KR and Wigan.
Lineham added: “When you win games it breeds confidence.
“It’s a bit of a turnaround after a tough run and this game is a good opportunity to kick-on.”