Wakefield coach addresses recruitment potential as fresh injury blow revealed

Wakefield Trinity will be without Jay Pitts for ‘a few weeks’ through a ruptured bicep, but currently have no plans to draft any new recruits in before the transfer deadline.

This week has seen Trinity, who are still in the running for a first-ever top two finish in Super League, release both hooker Thomas Doyle and back-rower Seth Nikotemo.

Doyle was off-contract, and with no plans to hand him a new deal, Wakefield granted his release to aid hopes of landing a new club.

Nikotemo meawhile has returned Down Under on compassionate grounds, and will remain in Australia.

But those departures, combined with the injury to veteran forward Pitts, won’t mean Daryl Powell bolsters his squad ahead of next Friday (August 21): when the transfer deadline comes around.

Wakefield coach addresses recruitment potential as fresh Jay Pitts injury blow revealed

Trinity host St Helens at Belle Vue on Saturday evening, with a victory on home soil enough to officially book their spot in the play-offs for the second season running.

In his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, head coach Powell said: “We’re looking (in the transfer market), but there’s a lot of injuries in Super League.

“I think you’d have to go overseas (to sign someone)… Leeds have just done that (with Matt Lodge).

“Pittsy (Jay Pitts) is going to be a couple of weeks with his arm, so we’ll see. We’ll keep looking, but at this point, there’s nothing to say.”

Ossett-born Pitts, who will turn 37 in December, suffered his injury during last weekend’s agonising home defeat to Leeds Rhinos in a top-of-the-table clash.

The stalwart is the only man to drop out of Powell’s 21-man squad ahead of the clash against Saints.

Powell explained: “He’s got a rupture of his bicep. He could have it done now, but that would be the end of his year, so he’s hanging on to have that done at the end of the year.

“It’ll be a couple of weeks (before he plays again). He’s got decent strength in it, but it’s going to need repairing at the end of the year.

“He wants to keep playing, so it’ll be a couple of weeks, I think.

“Pittsy is one of those warriors to be honest where he’s just going to do everything he can to be able to play, and it’s pretty brave of him to do that.”

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