Daryl Powell has opened up on his pride after watching his Wakefield Trinity side beat Wigan Warriors 16-10 at Belle Vue on Friday night. Wakefield were the better side for large periods of the contest and they did more than enough to seal their biggest result of the season so far.
The West Yorkshire outfit now sit sixth in the Super League table, jumping above Hull FC who play Salford Red Devils on Sunday, and they’ve shown they are more than capable of claiming a spot in the play-offs come the end of the year.
Powell’s side took the lead on home soil in the first half as tries from Caius Faatili and Josh Griffin gave them a 10-point advantage at the break. Adam Keighran scored just after the restart but Wakefield prevented the Wigan comeback and made sure of the victory as Tom Johnstone touched down.
“I’m super proud, just both sides of the ball every player, the way they executed what we wanted to do,” Powell said. “It’s a five-day turnaround that, it’s mental they have that energy on a five-game turnaround and we didn’t really have much time to put a game plan in place, we had one session.
“I think that’s as good as we’ve executed a game plan and it needs to be good against Wigan because they’re that good of a team.
“It was an incredible defensive effort and I’m really pleased that it doesn’t matter who’s in the team it still looks similar. As a coach that’s utopia when your team can deliver those kind of performances, really pleased.
“I looked at their team before and we were pretty light on the bench and though they’re big. I thought we handled the physicality really well right from the start and then we continued really.
“They have some electric sharp players and I thought we were good on Field and French tonight. I just think everybody executed the plan really well. The boys are proud and they get a day off tomorrow now so they’re super excited, it’s like gold dust a day off in rugby league and they’ve earned that.”
Wakefield Trinity injury update
To make it even more impressive, Wakefield secured the win without their skipper Mike McMeeken. Speaking after the game Powell confirmed the middle is expected to miss the trip to Hull KR next week.
“He’s got a tear in his pec,” he said. “It’s not a big one so it’ll be a couple of weeks. I think he’ll miss next week and whether he’s back for Catalans I’m not 100 per cent sure but he’s not going to be too far away.”
Mathieu Cozza was forced off the field in the first half and Powell admits the forward is a doubt heading into next week, too.
“It’s ankle,” he added. “I thought he might be able to go back on but he couldn’t so we’ll see. He’ll be a doubt for next week I would say.”
Gritty Wakefield, injury fears, advantage Hull KR and Wakefield Trinity v Wigan Warriors talking points https://t.co/ZS4SDmmY5A
— Serious About Rugby League (@SeriousAboutRL) June 20, 2025
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