‘There was a lot of distance within the group’ – Tom Johnstone reveals why Wakefield Trinity failed to impress in 2021 and what Willie Poching has changed

Wakefield Trinity have been down in the doldrums in recent seasons.

Former boss Chris Chester had been in charge since March 2016 and led Trinity to its best ever Super League finishes in 2017 and 2018, but lost his job midway through the 2021 Super League season after only winning four games.

Assistant coach Willie Poching took over on an interim basis and was able to guide Trinity to five wins from their final seven games.

And, flying winger Tom Johnstone has revealed just what Poching has done differently.

“There’s more togetherness, this is the tightest knit group I’ve been a part of and it has been of the most enjoyable pre-seasons I’ve been involved with for a while,” Johnstone said.

“We can have fun but we get the job done when necessary, so I’m really excited to see what we can actually do.

“He (Poching) came in and changed the mentality of the group, we’d been lacking that enjoyment and there was a lot of distance within the group, there were different groups within the team.

“If we’re together as a team, we can be together as a club – we want to make it so families can get down, we want to give more back.”

For Johnstone, it’s a case of putting everything together in 2022.

“We need to put in the performances we know we can do, fulfilling our potential.

“We’ve had a decent squad the past few years but something or other hasn’t quite clicked.”