Wakefield Trinity head coach Daryl Powell has called for calm despite his side surging into the top six with a huge win over Huddersfield Giants, whilst also explaining the decision not to play Max Jowitt.
Trinity won 48-2 as they ran in eight tries and put in a dominant performance which saw them jump into sixth place following Hull FC’s loss to Leeds Rhinos earlier in the day.
With a one point lead in the league table and a far easier run of fixtures left on paper, it looks likely that Trinity will make the top six at the first time of asking following their promotion from the Championship.
Despite that, Daryl Powell has pointed to Warrington’s shock loss to Salford as an example that anything can happen as the veteran head coach kept his feet firmly on the ground.
“You only have to look at last night and Warrington going into a game and they weren’t great and Salford hit them up,” Powell argued.
“I don’t think you can go into any game thinking that you’ve got the game won before you’ve gone through your game and how you want to play. I don’t think there’s any of that so I think just stay focused.
“We’ve been a little bit loose the last few weeks and we need to keep playing now.”
Wakefield Trinity boss explains why Max Jowitt was dropped
Ahead of the game, the key talk was about the fact that Max Jowitt was named 18th man with Josh Rourke starting at full-back instead.
There had been concerns of a knock with Jowitt but Powell confirmed post-match when speaking to Sky that it had been a selection choice, noting Jowitt’s recent lack of form.
Asked about his squad changes, including Matty Russell in for Lachlan Walmsley, Powell explained: “It’s a squad isn’t it? Lachlan Walmsley has been great for us but he got beat up a little bit last week and Matty Russell was phenomenal today.
“Max hasn’t been playing his best to be honest and I just felt like when Josh came out of the team he’d been playing well, and both (Rourke and Russell) were good today so it’s awesome to see.”
Having noted that top six isn’t secure, Powell did admit his side are in a strong position but he explained that there are still plenty of levels that they need to reach.
The Trinity boss said: “We’re in a good position and I think we know we’re going to keep improving. I saw that game last night between Saints and Hull KR and they’re a couple of notches up from the level today, so we know where we need to go and we’ve got to keep striving to be at that level.”
Pointing to his side’s lack of general Super League experience, he labelled what’s to come as an ‘opportunity’, expanding: “We know we’ll need to be outstanding to take those opportunities but you’ve got to be in it to win it, and if we’re in the six then we’ll have a fair pop at it.”
.@WTrinityRL are now in the top 6 🙌#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/mmjrh1VsYZ
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) August 30, 2025
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