The departing star Wakefield Trinity tried to keep and the club’s recruitment policy revealed by CEO

It’s been a tough 12 months for Wakefield Trinity, a year that their CEO Michael Carter has today described as a “massive frustration” in an official statement on the club website.

It was a year that promised so much after the positive end to 2021 under new boss Willie Poching but has ended up being a difficult campaign for the West Yorkshire club.

In hindsight, it was always going to be a transitional season for Trinity despite what Carter believed was 12 dropped points against Huddersfield, Hull KR, Catalans, St Helens and four against Toulouse during this campaign which would have Trinity in fifth instead of 10th on the ladder.

However, with so much change set to take place within the squad with 10 players confirmed as leaving by Carter tonight which you can read about here, it was always going to be about building for a better 2023 especially with work starting on the stadium.

So, how have Wakefield gone about building for next season. Well Carter has spoken about this as well noting that many of the cogs are already in place for 2023 through the mid-season signings they’ve made.

He said: “What we have managed to do is bring players in early, that were earmarked for next year. Jorge Taufua will become a firm favourite with his hard-hitting style. Rob Butler came in from Warrington and we look forward to watching him after a full pre-season, bearing in mind he’d played only five games in two years before joining us. Josh Bowden joined us and has been very impressive in the middle for us, and we also hope to tie up a deal for Jamie Shaul who has provided maturity and organisation at the back. We also expect Sam Eseh to make a good contribution next year after proving his worth in the Championship this year whilst out on loan at Featherstone.”

He then went on to thank those who are leaving for pastures new whilst revealing that they fought hard to try and keep one of them at the club but failed due to the player’s desire for a new challenge.

“James Batchelor came through our academy late and has probably had his best season to date,” Carter said, “We tried to keep him, but James decided a new challenge was needed. We wish him well.”