Wakefield coach Daryl Powell has confirmed he is a fan of Manly Sea Eagles forward Jazz Tevaga, who has been linked with a move to Trinity next year.
The 29-year-old has played seven times for Samoa and made 138 appearances for New Zealand Warriors before joining Manly ahead of this season.
All Out Rugby League say Tevaga will join Wakefield in 2026 and speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Thursday), Powell – whose side visit Hull KR tomorrow – insisted Trinity admitted he is the sort of player Trinity are keen to sign.
“We are talking about recruitment all the time,” Powell stated. “I like him [Tevaga] as a player. I’ve watched him for quite a few years from when he was at the Warriors. He’s all-action and has great energy. He’s a high-quality player, but I won’t confirm any of that at the moment.”
Of recruitment plans for 2026, Powell added: “We feel like we’ve got a really good squad moving forward and are always looking to add quality to that.
“I think everyone over here is looking for NRL players who are high quality and can add to what you do from all sorts of different angles.”
Trinity will be without 11 senior players for this week’s game, including seven from their middle-unit, after French forward Mathieu Cozza suffered an ankle injury which will keep him out of action for up to six weeks.
Powell said he has considered bringing in mid-season signings to ease Trinity’s injury crisis, but stressed: “I’ve decided we are all right – we’ll go with the players from within.
“Jack Croft has played in the middle and done a great job and we’ve continued to do that. Cam Scott has played in the back-row and we’ve just adjusted from within. I’d rather do that. I don’t really want to bring anybody in.
“We’ve got Noah High as 18th man tomorrow and Ellis Lingard has played for us this year. I’d rather have a look at those guys.
“That’s why you have a squad and have young players. At the moment I feel like I am able to do that, but I am hoping we are going to start to see a couple of players coming back in the next few weeks, which will really help us.”
Wakefield Trinity boss gives injury latest
Powell admitted losing Cozza is a blow, but feels Trinity can cope. “He got blocked off by a Wigan player last week and his ankle got caught underneath him,” Powell said.
“He has got a four-six week syndesmosis injury, which is not ideal at the moment. We have got seven frontline middle-unit players missing now.
“We are incredibly light, so it is tough at the moment, particularly in the middle of the field, but we will make some adjustments like we have been doing.
“The players have been incredible, whoever has played has been phenomenal so I am really pleased with where we’re at.
“Obviously we’ve got a pretty stiff challenge ahead of us now, but we’ll face it with the same positivity we did last week.
“We had 10 players missing last week and we’ve got 11 missing this week. We’ve got used to it now, so we’ll just get on with it.”
England prop Mike McMeeken is due to see a specialist tomorrow to assess a pectoral muscle injury which kept him out of last Friday’s 16-10 win against champions Wigan Warriors.
Powell said: “I don’t think it’s bad, but I can’t give a timescale for when he’s back. I am hoping it’s going to be in the next couple of weeks.
“He did it against Leigh, right at the start, I think his first contact. He played the full game so it’s not a really bad injury, but it’s enough for us to be cautious with him, because he is pretty important.”
