Mark Applegarth’s passionate response to Wakefield worry

It is four defeats in a row to start the season for Wakefield and three games without a try after they lost 26-0 to Leeds Rhinos on Friday.

However, as was the case against Huddersfield Giants in Round Three, Trinity were well in the game at halftime at 0-0.

But in the end the game got away from them and that was the assessment of coach Mark Applegarth who was left disappointed by his side’s dumb rugby which he felt was ultimately the reason they came unstuck in a game that was well in the balance after 40 minutes.

He said after the game: “I thought we were right in it until the first 10 minutes of the second half.

“We can’t just keep saying it, we gave four penalties in that 10 minute period and Leeds took full advantage and started rolling us.

“We have to learn to hang in there and play the game in the right areas.

“We’re inviting too much pressure onto ourselves. I can’t fault anyone for effort, everyone ran their blood to water out there but we played some dumb rugby, we need to get some smarts about us and more composure to what we do.”

However, when asked about dealing with this tough time, Applegarth responded passionately with:

“Listen, at this stage of the season we’re four points off the play-offs aren’t we, we’re only on Round Four.

“We’re not playing the ladder, we’re focused on ourselves and where we want to be.

“There’s a lot of rugby to be played and in a month we could be sat here having a very different conversation.

“That’s the cold hard rationality. You can look at it however you like. I’m not worried about it. I have definitely got the buy in from the players and the effort.

“We just need offensive quality and composure and we just have to control what we can.”