Wakefield Trinity won’t be loaning any players out this week despite interest from numerous clubs, with Daryl Powell explaining why.
Amid a sea of injuries in Super League, Wakefield are faring relatively well and that means that Daryl Powell is one of the few coaches with selection headaches. It also means he has plenty of players eager for game time but sat on the sidelines, something that led to signing Tray Lolesio making a one-week loan move to Bradford Bulls back in March.
Asked by Serious About Rugby League if Trinity are being tapped up for loan moves, Powell confirmed that it’s predominantly been Championship clubs making the requests before going on to explain why players would not be leaving this week or next.
“Not Super League clubs, we’ve had a couple of Champ sides (show interest),” Powell stated, adding: “We’ve got a reserve game at the weekend, we had a reserve game last weekend, so the boys are playing, which is important.”
On Lolesio specifically, he said: “With Tray going to Bradford, that was just a great opportunity for him to play. Sometimes things like that crop up, which are best for the player, and we always go with that, but yeah, not too much this week.”
Powell also confirmed that there are a ‘couple of players’ that he’s spoken to who need game time but with this week’s derby and next week’s Challenge Cup tie against Wigan, it’s a case of waiting for now.
Wakefield Trinity boss talks Harvey Smith Tyson Smoothy rotation
One man who certainly won’t be going on loan is young talent Harvey Smith with the hooker one of the brightest sparks at Wakefield, however, he has had his minutes managed behind NRL Grand Final winner Tyson Smoothy.
On whether minutes between Smoothy and Smith were a hard balance to find, Powell said: “I don’t think so, because I really trust Harvey to go and do a job whenever he goes on the field.
“The only reason he didn’t play the week before was just me managing a young player really and giving him the opportunity to take a breather.
“Whilst Tyson was out with his concussion protocol situation, we put Harvey out there for huge, huge minutes and used Jazz (Tevaga) as a roll-around nine so I just felt like it was a good opportunity to freshen (Harvey) up really.”
Smith returned to action in round six, with Powell claiming the youngster did a ‘good job’ though he did admit that minutes may need to be managed across the season.
He said: “I think we’re getting the balance okay, I think that’s alright at the minute, so we’ll just keep working like that.
“If ever I feel like Harvey needs a little bit of a rest for whatever reason, I’ve said to him it’s nothing to do with form, I feel like he’s doing a great job for us, it’s just about managing his minutes across the whole season.”
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