Returning winger Tom Johnstone has tipped Wakefield Trinity to compete for honours during his second spell at the club.
Johnstone rejoined Trinity in pre-season on a four-year deal, after two seasons with Catalans Dragons and reckons he has come back to a much-improved club.
Wakefield were promoted to Betfred Super League last autumn, following one all-conquering year in the Championship and begin their campaign away to Leeds Rhinos on Saturday afternoon.
“We want to compete,” Johnstone said of Trinity’s goals for this season. “We want to play some exciting, expansive rugby, so we will see where we get to.
“I am excited, I think we’ve looked really good in training and the pre-season games. We want to try and push up there and over the next four years I want to see us in the play-offs and challenging for things.”
Johnstone, 29, has recovered fully from a broken leg suffered last summer and was among the try scorers when Trinity hammered Goole Vikings 82-0 in the Challenge Cup.
“The club has completely changed since I left and I am really enjoying the new place,” he added.
“It is good to be back in the country, around family, as well. I absolutely loved my two years [in France], but I’ve got two young kids now, they love being around their grandparents and I missed my family. I am more than happy to be home.”
Since Johnstone’s previous spell at Wakefield, Matt Ellis has taken over as Trinity owner, with Daryl Powell appointed coach. “The club’s more professional now in all aspects,” Johnstone observed.
“The ground is still getting a bit of work done, but it is heading in the right direction. The facilities for recovery are good and the mindset of the club, the ambition – it has got a different outlook now.
“Powelly has come in as well and everyone wants to achieve. We don’t want to hang on at the bottom of the table, we want to push up and see where we can get to.”
Johnstone reckons he has also changed since the last time he pulled on a Trinity jersey in Super League.
“I am a bit more mature, a bit older,” he stressed. “I know what I need to do and I am going to try and lead by my actions. But there’s other aspects as well – off the pitch I look after myself a lot better now. I am not that young, naive kid now. I have learned a bit over the years.”
A win at Leeds in the opening round would send the message Trinity mean business this year.
Johnstone grew up in the city and revealed: “I absolutely love playing at Leeds, it is probably my favourite away ground. And I do really like to beat Leeds as well, having grown up as a kid watching them.
“I am really looking forward to round one – it is going to be pretty special. I was a Leeds fan – I had a season ticket with my grandad when I was a kid, but Wakefield is my club now.
“It is a club I think of very fondly and it’s one I will probably be a supporter of for the rest of my life.”
