Mark Applegarth accuses Danny Ward of “trying to be smart” ahead of relegation Grand Final

Though we will see some big games between Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves, Wigan Warriors and Hull FC and of course St Helens and Hull KR, the biggest game is the meeting between Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers.

Kicking off at 20:00 tomorrow evening, the game will be shown on Sky Sports and holds massive significance to both with the two sides level on points meaning the game could go a long way to determining who is relegated come the end of the season.

And with IMG set to radically change the way promotion and relegation works, this could be detrimental for either side.

The fixture is reminiscent of a do or die clash between the two in 2006 that Wakefield boss Mark Applegarth was somewhat involved with.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds, he reflected on it:

“Yeah, it was a weird one. I remember it really well if I’m honest with you. I wasn’t playing, but I knew the significance of the game. I had a year left on my contract and we’d all been told that basically if the club went down, then that’s it.

“So I was thinking, this 80 minutes is going to decide whether I’ve got a job for next year or not. Not being able to play, I was young and a bit of a squad member. It brought added nerves to it.

“You look at some of the lads that played in that game, they just made sure that they showed up for each other and put the best foot forward, took the emotion out of it as such, in terms of what we’re getting built up outside and just focus on playing the game that we’re in front of you.

“That’s pretty much the blueprint for most games in professional sport, isn’t it? Just play the game, not the occasion that it’s built up to be.”

“One thing that really stuck out about that group to me and how I remember it’s not for what they did on the field it’s how they were off the field and the sort of stuff that they taught me as a young guy and some of the lessons that I still base myself on to this day.”

Opposite number on Friday Danny Ward was also involved in the game for Castleford.

It is his first game in charge and he branded Wakefield favourites which Applegarth chalked up to mind games:

“I think he’s being smart, just trying to take a bit of pressure off himself.

“As I’ve said, we got wrote off many a month ago, I think we were favourites to go down at the start of the year and we were definitely favourites even six weeks ago.

“We’re just taking it one week at a time. We’re just happy we’ve clawed it back to be in our hands and we’ll just embrace each week at a time like that.”