Daryl Powell fumes over ‘ridiculous’ decision following Wakefield’s play-off exit

Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell described the decision not to allow them to activate their 18th man in their play-off defeat to Leigh as ‘ridiculous’, but conceded the Leopards deserved the victory.

Trinity lost forward Matty Storton to an injury early on, so were already down an interchange, and then saw Seth Nikotemo forced off before the first half was out.

Nikotemo’s injury came after he was dumped on his shoulder by Leigh star Lachlan Lam after the tackle had been complete.

Referee Liam Moore adjudged that both players had played on during that incident though, and the penalty that was awarded Trinity’s way came from an elbow from the Papua New Guinean.

Accordingly, as Nikotemo’s injury wasn’t as a direct result of the foul play from Lam which was penalised, Powell wasn’t able to use 18th man Mathieu Cozza.

Daryl Powell fumes over ‘ridiculous’ decision following Wakefield’s play-off exit

France international Cozza was warming up throughout half-time, but the rules didn’t allow him to enter the field.

Speaking after a 26-10 defeat in the play-off eliminator, Powell said: “I thought we should have been allowed to use our 18th man when Seth was dumped on his shoulder, but allegedly you can’t do that, which I think is wrong.

“It’s foul play, so it doesn’t make sense to me.

“You shouldn’t have to be put in the sin-bin (for it to activate the opposition’s 18th man), that was a nonsense.

“It’s something we have to see a far bit with the rules at times, and that hurt us.

“I don’t think we did (get a lot of calls).

“I sometimes ask whether we’re trying to go through a whole game without giving a penalty, either way, really.

“You don’t want to see a lot of penalties, but when it gets to this time of year, you’re letting some things go, both ways, (that you shouldn’t).

Veteran coach Powell though did concede that Leigh were the better side by a distance on the night, with Wakefield’s first season back in Super League now over.

He added: “We should have been able to use our 18th man.

“It’s a ridiculous way of policing the law. Foul play is foul play, whether there’s a sin-binning or not.

“I’m not saying using our 18th man is going to help us win the game, but we talk about player welfare and then we fight against it at times.”