Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell doesn’t know when he will be able to call on star man Max Jowitt again because the club’s medical team have never seen the injury. Jowitt picked up a lower leg issue while taking on Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium in the last round of the Challenge Cup.
Powell spoke a few days after the incident to suggest Jowitt’s injury wasn’t as bad as first thought but he has now missed games against Hull FC and Leigh Leopards and he won’t be involved when Wakefield host the Leopards in the Cup quarter-finals on Friday night.
As such, the Wakefield head coach was asked about the full-back in his press conference this afternoon but Powell couldn’t provide a clear answer.
“Not really,” Powell said when asked if he had a return date. “They’ve said that they’ve never seen the injury before so it’s a really strange one.
“I was fearful that he’s be out for a long time. I don’t think he’s going to be but it’s very difficult to get an exact because they’ve never seen the injury. It’s quite bizarre really.
“Josh has done a good job in his absence and he’ll go again. We hope Max will be back soon but until then we’ll go with the next man up, which we’ve done pretty much all this year so far. Josh is the man who has done a good job for us in lots of ways.”
Jake Trueman has joined Jowitt in the treatment room in recent weeks, with the half-back struggling for consistent fitness since joining Wakefield from Hull FC in the off-season. He hasn’t been seen for a couple of weeks either but drops out of the 21-man squad this week.
“He’s had a scan that showed a little bit of something with his disc,” Powell added. “We thought he would have recovered for this week but he hasn’t.
“He’s going to need a little bit of treatment. I don’t think it’s long term or anything but he’s still feeling a little bit of discomfort there so we need to get him fixed up.
“Again, like with Josh stepping in for Max, Olly Russell has been pretty good and he’s stepped in and he’s got a run of games now.”
Trueman is replaced in the Wakefield Trinity squad by Corey Hall, who returns from a minor issue to give the head coach something of a selection dilemma.
“He’s got a bit of a rib injury that we think has healed so I’ve got a bit of a call to make there,” he said. “Obviously the team won last week and you don’t often change a winning team too much but I’ll make that final call tomorrow.”
đź‘€ Corey Hall returns to Daryl Powell’s 21-man squad in the only change ahead of our Betfred Challenge Cup Quarter Final against Leigh Leopards!
👉🏻 https://t.co/GKEUvXIRWj#UpTheTrin pic.twitter.com/wyluZRJu0d
— Wakefield Trinity (@WTrinityRL) April 2, 2025
