Wakefield dealt fresh Jake Trueman blow but key trio could return for Catalans clash

Wakefield Trinity expect to be without Jake Trueman for their next two fixtures after he has been forced to enter the concussion protocol: but captain Mike McMeeken is among three key men on course to return this weekend.

Trueman left the field at half-time during last weekend’s defeat to league leaders Hull KR, with Daryl Powell confirming he had took a blow to his shoulder.

But during the second half, Trueman began to suffer delayed concussion symptoms, meaning Trinity’s medical staff were forced to put him through the return-to-play protocol.

That automatically meant he would miss this Saturday’s game with Catalans, but they may also be patient with the half-back and allow him to sit out next week’s game with former club Hull given how it is a short turnaround.

“Truey won’t play,” he said.

“He ended up having a few concussion protocol issues that we’ve had to get him right with. He’ll take potentially the next couple of games but we’ll wait and see. It’s a short turnaround to Hull.

“He’s in the process of doing everything we need him to do and we’ll take it from there. He had some sort of delayed concussion symptoms that came on as he was sat down during the second half. It is what it is with the concussion stuff.”

But Powell could have three big returnees on Saturday evening – which includes England international and club captain Mike McMeeken.

McMeeken, Caleb Hamlin-Uele and Thomas Doyle all trained on Wednesday and while Powell was cautious on the chances of all three featuring, he did admit they were on track to feature as things stand.

Powell said: “We get a few boys back. It’s still early-ish in the week but we have final prep on Friday so we’ll see how the boys go then.

“Potentially a couple of boys are in for us.. Caleb, Mikey and Tommy Doyle have all done some training so we’ll wait and see, hopefully they’ll be okay from today because it was a more intense session today than yesterday.

“We should have a few more options available. We’ll wait and see later in the week what that looks like.”