Caius Faatili injury update as Wakefield coach provides hopeful prognosis

Wakefield Trinity forward Caius Faatili should be fine for their Super League season opener next month despite coming off with an injury against Hull KR on Sunday.

Shortly after opening the scoring at Craven Park, Faatili left the field after suffering a heavy collision. Trinity boss Daryl Powell later revealed that it was a knock to the forward’s hip which left him unable to continue.

He did not return at any point for the remainder of the afternoon, leading to fears of a potentially troublesome knock that could leave one of Wakefield’s most influential forwards on the sidelines for their first league match against Toulouse in three weeks.

But Powell insisted after the game he felt that the forward should be fine to feature on February 14.

The Wakefield coach said: “He got a knock on his hip. I think he’s okay, he just got a whack and he was struggling to move so we brought him off. It made us change our rotations a little bit, but he should be fine for Round One.”

Trinity escaped the 34-6 win without any further injury blows, and Powell admitted he was impressed with new signings Trey Lolesio and Tyson Smoothy – but warned his side are still adjusting to the new ruck rules which will speed up the game in Super League in 2026.

“I thought Truey (Jake Trueman) was good and I like Trey, who has just come to us,” Powell said. “His energy and footwork.. we did some really good things with the ball in both halves but particularly early on.

“Losing Caius was a blow but we’ve come out injury free apart from that, so that’s handy. Tyson was very good in there, his first hit-out with the team, and it was a solid first half.

“We’re getting used to the new rules, the game looks a bit different and it’s a bit quicker so it’s getting a balance to that. I thought we got scared by how trigger happy the refs are at the start of games os for us, it’s finding a balance.”