Mike McMeeken opens up on Wakefield Trinity, Daryl Powell influence and Tom Johnstone

Daryl Powell’s drive and ambition was one of the major reasons why Mike McMeeken agreed to join Wakefield Trinity for 2025. The former Catalans Dragons man has penned a four-year deal with the Super League newcomers, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2028 season.

However, the deal sees him reunited with head coach Powell, who he spent six seasons working under at Castleford Tigers between 2015 and 2020, with the current Wakefield boss shaping McMeeken into the player he is today.

As such, Powell’s influence was one of the major reasons why he agreed to swap the Stade Gilbert Brutus for Belle Vue, while the strides the club has been making on and off the field over the last 12 months was another pull.

“The direction of the club and the way the club is going, when I first spoke to Powelly I knew he was going to be on to something pretty exciting,” McMeeken told the Wakefield Trinity Youtube channel. “I’ve worked with him before at Cas so I know what he’s like, he’s driven and wants to achieve big things and the direction the club is going is something I wanted to be a part of.

“Just being sat in these dressing rooms, before they were over on the other side. I was in the changing room but these facilities are outstanding, top spec. I’m being told that everything getting put in is the best that it can be, it’s an exciting time to be a part of this club.”

Of course, Wakefield make the step up to Super League after dominating in the second tier last season. The West Yorkshire outfit won 25 of the 26 games they played in the regular season before going on to beat Toulouse Olympique in the Championship Grand Final on home soil.

“As soon as I agreed to sign here I was keeping close tabs on how the games were going and I’ve seen highlights of how the team has gone. I’m impressed,” McMeeken added. “To perform at that level in the Championship isn’t easy and you have teams that are playing their Grand Finals every week and they want to knock the likes of us off top spot because of who we are.

“To pick up only one loss, and I believe the team were pretty disappointed in that is pretty good going. I think that’s pretty tough to do. I’m looking forward to working with these boys as well.”

McMeeken will be joined at Belle Vue by a close friend in the form of Tom Johnstone, who will also be making the switch to Perpignan to Wakefield, and the forward lists the opportunity to play alongside him once more as another key reason why the move made sense to him.

“He’s a big fan favourite here and he’s achieved great things in his career,” he said. “To bring Tom back into Wakefield is a big positive and it’s a bit of a reason why I came back as well.

“We were in discussions about the possibility of joining Wakefield and when I found out he was considering it as well, it made more positives for me joining as well.”