Wakefield Trinity boss sends warning ahead of Castleford Tigers clash amid ‘lots of improvement’ claim

Wakefield Trinity head coach Daryl Powell believes there is still much more to come from his side despite their strong start to the season.

Powell’s Trinity take on Castleford Tigers in the final game of Rivals Round in a fixture that the 60-year-old is very familiar with having spent almost a decade coaching on the other side of the rivalry.

Whilst they don’t have a historically good record in the game, Wakefield won two from three last year against Castelford and the Trinity boss is keen for his side to embrace their situation and kick on with another win.

Speaking to the media in the build-up, Powell said: “It’s a big game, the Rivals Round is big. I think it’s important that we get our approach right, we spoke about that a bit this week.

“Obviously, Cas had a good win last week, after having a pretty tough day at Warrington, so they got back on track and they’ll be feeling pretty confident, I would say, they’re at home.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge of it. We’re alright, we’re in a decent place, we can play a lot better than we are at the moment and I think we’ll want to take steps towards that, starting with this week, but we know it’ll be a tough game.”

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Wakefield Trinity boss touts improvements

Having noted that his side can play a ‘lot better’ than they are, the Trinity boss expanded on why he felt that given the fact Wakefield have won their last four games in all competitions.

Asked how much better, he said: “A fair bit, I think, I just think the accuracy of our game, I think we can defend better which is probably ironic because we’re not conceding a lot of points, but I think we can defend better.

“There’s improvement in us and the game’s changed and evolved a little bit, but I still think we can defend better than we are doing at the moment. I think with the ball, there’s lots of improvement in us.”

Despite winning their last four, Powell admitted: “The last four games, we’ve just been a little bit scratchy. We’re not quite as fluent as we want to be and I think it just takes a little bit of time with different combinations, and the way the game is played against teams who defend a little bit differently.

“We’re just adapting to the whole thing, even new personnel, it just takes a little bit of time to bed it in, so I think it’s been an interesting season so far, I think there’s lots of development and improvement in us, but we’re reasonably happy with where we’re at.”