Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis believes his club will be Super League champions within the next five seasons.
Ellis, who has worked wonders with the club in his short time in charge, took over the West Yorkshire side from Michael Carter in October of 2023.
Since that time, Trinity have gone from Super League relegation to Championship Grand Final winners, before sealing their return to the top flight with a play-off appearance in 2025.
Losing out to Leigh Leopards in the opening round of finals, Wakefield proved the majority of fans wrong last year by making the top six, but the club are by no means stopping there, and will continue to improve season-on-season.
Both Ellis and head coach Daryl Powell have been influential in that change, with Powell getting the team back in contention on the field, whilst Ellis is hard at work improving everything he can off it.
The 42-year-old was a guest on Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast with Jenna Brooks and Jon Wilkin, and it was there that he outlined his ambitious plan for the next few years.
Trinity last won a piece of top flight silverware in 1993, when they won the Yorkshire Cup, however you have to go back to 1963 for a Challenge Cup win and 1968 for a First Division premiership, highlight just how starved of trophies the club currently is.
However, Ellis is adamant on changing that, and if the club continues on the same trajectory as it has done in the past 24 months, there is plenty of reasons as to how the owner’s dream could become a reality.
“I will fetch a Grand Final back here in the time I’m here, definitely. 100%,” he revealed.
It is not just on-field success that the boyhood Wakefield fan wants to see, but off the field improvements are of paramount importance too, starting with a flourishing academy setup.
Asked where he sees the club in five years time, Ellis said: “Super League champions, simple as that. That is the long-term goal. Five years, let’s get after it.
“We’re doing a lot of things, not just to make us a better club. We’re looking at a new training facility. We want to be keeping the best young kids from the Wakefield area [at the club].
“The Wakefield area is massive for producing young kids. Second I think only to Wigan in the postcode of who produces kids. The problem is too many of them are going that way. Going to Warrington and going to Wigan. That’s got to stop and let’s get after it.
“…Let’s just go on a journey. Let’s build it up year on year. That’s definitely the aim for five years. That’s all I’ll say. If we win it in year four, I’d take it.”
Wakefield Trinity owner “100%” believes team are a major Super League club
With Trinity making the six last year, their status in the game and the competition undoubtedly improved.
Finishing higher than the likes of Hull FC, Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons, arguments can be made that Wakefield are in and amongst Super League’s ‘big dogs’.
Whilst their success is only very recent, Ellis believes that his club have done enough to be labelled as one of the competition’s major clubs.
“Yeah, 100%,” the owner replied when asked that very question. “We had 8,000 supporters last year on average. That’s without being at a major final, you know, for decades.
“We’re the only established Super League club to not have been to a Grand Final or a Challenge Cup final and the fans still with us.
“It’s Rugby League City. We’ve got some dormant support. I think we’ve fetched most of them back.
“If we can get to a final, I speak to Derek [Beaumont] and some of the other owners. Once you get to a final or you win a league leaders or get to a grand final, that just swells the support so much.
