Wakefield to be boosted by flurry of stars for crucial Castleford clash

Wakefield hope several key players will be back for their Easter derby against Castleford, but first, they face the small task of playing champions St Helens away.

Trinity are still seeking their first win of the season as they travel to reigning Super League champions St Helens on Friday night.

Wakefield currently sit bottom of the Super League table, having lost all six of their opening matches. Neighbours Castleford are sat just above them in the ladder, having registered a win, which came against Leeds a fortnight ago.

It is still very early on in the season, but next week’s derby kicking off Super League’s Easter weekend could prove crucial in how the season pans out for both clubs.

When asked in his weekly press conference about next week’s clash with Castleford, Applegarth said: “I’m just focusing on putting in a good performance against St Helens on Friday night.

“There’s no hiding away from a couple of big games around the corner but every game is a tough game.

“We are playing the world champions on Friday so we haven’t got the luxury of going into a game thinking ‘we’ll have one eye on that against Castleford on Thursday’ because you’ll get burnt badly because you are playing against the best team in the world.

“Our first and foremost priority is St Helens on Friday night. We definitely aren’t in the position to be looking at that sort of game (yet).

“We’ll get Friday out of the way and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that game next Thursday over at Cas, it’s always a spicy game anyway with it being a local derby, but it obviously adds a bit more bit to it with the situation with both clubs at this moment in time.”

Mark Applegarth provides injury update

Former Hull KR full-back Will Dagger will be one of two new faces in Applegarth’s squad for the trip to St Helens, after Innes Senior joined on loan from Huddersfield.

Applegarth says they will still be down on troops for the Saints match, but are hoping to have several players back available for next week’s game at Castleford.

When asked which players could return for the derby, Applegarth replied: “Liam Hood, Renouf Atoni, Kev Proctor, hopefully Lee Gaskell, Jorge (Taufua) and Sam Hewitt coming back from his one-match ban – so as you can see, there are some quality names who could be back.

“Josh Bowden won’t be far off, Kelepi Tanginoa won’t be far off, so there’s some big players just around the corner for us.

“Hopefully there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel so we are expecting some troops back for next week.”

Sam Hewitt loan latest

Sam Hewitt has made two appearances for Wakefield since joining on a short-term loan from Huddersfield.

Applegarth says he hopes to keep the utility forward for as long as possible.

He added: “We are very grateful to Huddersfield for that. Once you’ve done that initial two-week period then its on a weekly roller until the end of the year or until Huddersfield need him.

“But whenever we’ve got Sam available to us we are very grateful to Rich Thewlis (Giants managing director) and the Huddersfield Giants for making him available on loan for us. He has been great for us so far.”

No pressure on us at St Helens, says Applegarth

The Trinity boss says his side will relish being the underdogs in Friday’s match against the champions.

He added: “I don’t think there’s any pressure on us on Friday night and I think that’s the beauty of it.

“Anyone outside of the four walls of our changing room won’t be expecting us to win. We’re going there to take it to St Helens.

“It’s always a good opportunity to test yourself against the world champions. They’ve been the most consistent team in Super League for the past three or four years, they’ve got some quality throughout their ranks so we’re looking forward to going there and putting some scenarios at them and getting some confidence back in our own game.”

Trinity’s game against Saints takes place at The Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night, 8pm kick-off.

St Helens: Welsby, Makinson, Hopoate, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Knowles, Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Sironen, Paasi, Bell, Royle, Hurrell, Ritson, Delaney, Buckley.

Wakefield: Taufua, Lyne, Lino, Battye, Whitbread, Ashurst, Pitts, Crowther, Kay, Kershaw, Proctor, Smith, Langi, Butler, Bowes, Eseh, Butterworth, Pratt, Forber, Dagger, Senior.

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