Daryl Powell provides crucial Luke Gale update

There has been speculation around Luke Gale and a potential move to Hull KR lately.

Gale is no stranger to big transfers with his moves to Leeds Rhinos from Castleford Tigers, to Hull FC and to Wakefield Trinity all examples of major transfer stories.

There were reports that Hull KR had moved for Gale as a replacement for Jordan Abdull. However, despite being interested in the player, Hull KR boss Willie Peters denied that an official had been made contrary to reports.

Nonetheless, Gale will be a Wakefield player in 2024 and his absence from the friendly against Wigan was explained by Daryl Powell.

He said: “Luke Gale has a calf injury so we didn’t want to risk him tonight. Mason Lino has had an illness so that’s why he didn’t play tonight.”

Powell pleased with performance despite Luke Gale absence

Powell was also delighted with the performance from his side despite the big names missing.

“I think we dominated for pretty much all the first half, especially possession and territory. We scored some smarty tries. Defensively I thought we were excellent,” Powell said on the club’s official YouTube channel.

“For the 20 minutes in the second half that was a real battle, it was a really good 20 minutes but we found a way to get some field position.

“So I don’t think it should be about the lights. It is disappointing but the players did what they needed to on the field and I think we learnt a lot of lessons and we can grow again from what we saw tonight.”

“If you rewind back to the start of pre-season when we had only one middle unit and we were really skinny in that area. So, if you look where we are tonight, we had to put together a middle unit that has faced up to a really formidable challenge from Wigan and handled it really well.

“From a recruitment perspective we are really pleased with what we have and at a club level we have brought together a good group of people.”