“Be excited but calm” is Wakefield Trinity’s message from Daryl Powell ahead of tonight’s first v second fixture against Leeds Rhinos.
Trinity can go joint-top of Super League with a win tonight, in what would mark the next step on their incredible turnaround since their return to the top flight last year.
A huge gulf in points difference means that Wakefield can’t rise to first, but a victory over Leeds would really set the cat amongst the pigeons in terms of the League Leaders’ Shield race, especially with just five games of the regular season remaining after this week.
It would also show that Trinity can actually compete with the competition’s best. There’s no questioning their efforts this season, but with comfortable defeats to the Rhinos (40-22) and Wigan (48-10) in the league, they need to earn those wins against the competition’s top dogs if they are to claim any silverware this season.
Many are claiming this to be the biggest game of the season so far, and it is certainly being billed as just that, with the two West Yorkshire sides being among the most enjoyable outfits to watch this year.
With that hype comes pressure, and with Wakefield not yet having that one performance that cements them as true candidates, an 80-minute effort tonight could just do that.
To do that though, Powell knows his side will need to remain level-headed, and not allow the outside noise to factor into their pre-match thoughts.
Revealing his message to the players for this week, the boss said: “I think be excited but calm really, because you want to get your juices flowing. When you’re playing the game of rugby league, you have to do it. There has to be a certain amount of emotion in there, but you just don’t want it to spill over.
“I don’t think there’s anything in that because that then takes away energy and we’re going to need a lot of energy tomorrow. I think we’ve got the right balance of we’re ready to play. Emotionally, I think we’re in a good place.
“I don’t think we need to over-hype the game. It does that itself. When the players walk out there’ll be enough in there just from a natural way without trying to stimulate it in a false way.”
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Wakefield Trinity boss previews bumper Leeds Rhinos fixture
Assessing this evening’s opponents, Powell said: “We know the challenges around the corner, starting with this one, are significant, and it’ll prove how good we are.
“…They’ve got good players across the field. If you look at the Man of Steel standings, they’ve got players littered in there, and from full back to the spine is very good and they’re really challenging.
“Jake Connor’s playing well. (Brodie) Croft is scoring tries, (Lachie) Miller’s always electric. I just think wherever you look they’ve got threats about them.”
Asked if this is the biggest game of the season so far, he replied: “I suppose it is when you look at where we are in the season. We’re at home against first. They’ve been the best team all year pretty much. I think it’s obviously a very tough game. It’s a big game.
“I think it’s important that you don’t blow it up too much either. It’s not a be-all and end-all, but we want to play well and we want to win the game. We want to show how good we can be against the best teams.
“I think that’s where we’re at now at this stage of our development as a club and a team. We want to be up there. We’ve got to prove that we belong up there in those high echelons of the table. I think this is a great opportunity to do that.”
Despite sitting pretty in second, Powell reminded fans that the side “haven’t done anything yet,” with the big games still to come.
“We’ve got six games to show that we can mix it at the top of the table and show how genuine we are as a team,” the boss said. “I think that’s what it’s all about at the moment.
“Everybody’s talking about us having a chance and words don’t mean anything. It’s just about how good we can prove we can be on a rugby field.
“The boys have done a class job so far, and this is just a real good marker of where we want to go to and how far we are down that track against the team that everybody’s saying is the best team in the comp.”
