Wakefield Trinity name squad amidst fears of fixture cancellation

Wakefield Trinity are scheduled to host Huddersfield Giants on Friday night at Belle Vue but there are concerns over a possible cancellation, with the RFL reported to review their contentious pitch.

Despite this Mark Applegarth has stuck to his rugby side of the job as expected and named a 21-man squad for that fixture, but it’s lacking one star player.

Full-back Max Jowitt is an obvious absence from the 21-man squad and it comes following reports from the Yorkshire Post that the full-back could be set for a spell on the side-lines.

It’s a huge miss for a side that is coming off  a 60-0 loss in which Lee Gaskell deputised at full-back.

Gaskell is once again named and could therefore again take that role with new signing Samisoni Langi shifting into the halves again.

Jordy Crowther returns into the line-up and all four new signings also feature, but Trinity will face a tough task against Huddersfield.

The Giants loss their first game of the season last week meaning Ian Watson’s men will be out for a bounce back win and it could simply pile more misery onto Trinity.

That is if the game goes ahead at all because Trinity’s pitch is set to be inspected after complaints from Catalans over the condition of it, and the injuries it caused.

Steve McNamara had been hugely critical of the amount of issues that it had caused for his side in their visit there on the opening week.

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Your Trinity squad for Friday's game with Huddersfield. 👇

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McNamara had said of the pitch after the game:

“It was a pretty tough game on a pitch that took skin of your legs. The boys there, their legs are red raw. It’s an issue. It’s an issue for Wakefield moving forward for their players. I haven’t seen anything like that before in terms of the blisters and blood that’s in there off that field there.”

When asked if he was a fan, he said: “No I’m not a fan, not if that’s the outcome. If the outcome is that, then definitely. It’s going to create issues I’m sure. We haven’t got to play on it again but they have to play on it every other week.

“I didn’t quite realise it was like that before we came. We’d seen pictures but it’s an issue.”

He then stated: “That’s the worst dressing room I’ve seen for skin taken off legs without a doubt.”