Unpicking Wakefield Trinity’s team dilemmas after shaky Super League start

Wakefield Trinity’s shaky start to the new Super League season continued after defeat to Warrington Wolves made it two defeats from the first three games.

Daryl Powell’s side played their part in a very entertaining and, at times, high-quality contest at the Halliwell Jones Stadium – but they fell short in the crucial moments.

To be clear, Trinity are not a million miles off. A narrow defeat to Toulouse is something a few teams will likely suffer throughout the course of 2026, and Warrington look like a team that could have a great season.

But it is clear there are a few issues hovering over Trinity which, if they can fix up, they will be heading up the table. There is certainly no need to panic, at all, by the way – but here’s the early-season things that might be plaguing Wakey at present.

Errors at key junctures

It goes without saying that errors at any stage are far from ideal. But at the ends of both halves, Trinity were severely below-par and that proved to be the difference here. They invited far too much pressure on themselves as both halves concluded – but like Powell said, while they are patchy at present, they’re far from panicking.

Jazz Tevaga or Jay Pitts?

Wakefield have made a really good addition in the shape of Tevaga; a household name in the NRL and a full Samoan international. It is already clear that Trinity are a better team when he is on the field.

But Powell has to choose whether Tevaga can be on at 13 for longer than he currently is, or whether the plan to rotate between him and last year’s 13, Jay Pitts, is the right one.

Who makes way for Mason Lino: if anyone?

As mentioned, this is hardly anything like a crisis for Powell and his side with one win from the first three – albeit with a fixture list that didn’t look too menacing in regards to the opening month.

But one place Trinity do look okay is the burgeoning partnership between Jack Sinfield and Jake Trueman. Sinfield looks to be thriving away from Leeds after failing to make the impact there he would have wanted, and he showed up nicely again here.

Trueman, too, looks to be a good foil for him – but there is the looming presence of Mason Lino, who is set to be fully fit again next week. Does Powell break up his new-look half-back pairing: or could Lino come onto the bench with Tyson Smoothy out due to a failed HIA?

It’s the biggest dilemma over this side right now; we’ve seen from other top teams that rotating your spine every week is hardly conducive to success.