What Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell said after his side’s heavy loss at Wigan Warriors

Wakefield Trinity have to be tougher over the coming weeks if they’re to claim a play-off spot, says Daryl Powell. The comments come after his side fell to a heavy 44-2 defeat at Wigan Warriors on Sunday afternoon at the Brick Community Stadium.

The Trinity knew that a win over Wigan would be enough to carry them into the top six with just four games remaining, leapfrogging Hull FC in the process. However, they never looked like troubling the Cherry and Whites, with Wigan scoring eight tries on the day as Bevan French turned on the style and Zach Eckersley grabbed a brace.

Wigan could have scored more in truth and Matt Peet took the chance to take Adam Keighran and French off in the second half with the game already wrapped up. Ultimately then, Wakefield were well beaten and they remain a point outside the top six as they head into the final month of the campaign.

The Yorkshire outfit still have three of the bottom four to play, but Powell believes his side must show more character and resilience if they are to reach the knockout stages of the competition.

Daryl Powell on his Wakefield Trinity side’s loss at Wigan Warriors

“We strangled ourselves a little bit to be honest,” Powell told Sky Sports after the contest. “We won the initial battle and then dropped the ball on play three and then they got us with a couple of kick plays which was smart from them.

“The next opportunity we had to get any kind of field position, we kick the ball dead and gave them a seven tackle set. They had 91 per cent territory in the first half, good luck with that.

“I thought we hurt ourselves and we weren’t good enough to compete with Wigan today so I’m a little bit disappointed. It just wasn’t great and I don’t think it got much better in the second half.

“Ultimately, the last two weeks since the break, we haven’t been good enough. We have to find our formula back and we’re still in the fight but that was way off today. I thought Wigan were pretty good.

Asked about his side’s belief, Powell said: “It goes up and down in games doesn’t it and when you’re conceding errors and I thought we were pretty dumb sometimes at marker, just gifting penalties to Wigan, if you’re doing those sort of things then your belief can quickly go if you’re 12-0 down then 18-0 down.

“I think we have to be a bit tougher, I don’t think we’re holding our nerve well enough and we’re not completing high enough.

“The last two games have told their own story, St Helens and Wigan are tough challenges. For us, we need perspective, we were promoted last year so we’re learning some lessons here and we’ve had a couple of tough lessons in the last week but we still have an opportunity and you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

“We’ve got something here and we’re working hard on it but it doesn’t all come at once and we have some things to do to get ourselves playing better and being tougher as a unit when we’re under pressure. Stopping putting pressure on ourselves would be a decent start I think.”

A home game against Huddersfield Giants, who saw off Warrington Wolves on Sunday, is next up for Wakefield Trinity, before fixtures against Castleford Tigers, Hull KR and Salford Red Devils.

“I think we need to play better than we have in the last couple of weeks,” Powell said on the play-off race. “We have Huddersfield next week and they won today so it’s not a given and we have to start playing better. We have to be tougher and the players individually have got to play tougher and collectively we’ve got to find more steel. If we do that we’ll have a chance.

“It’s a decent fight, us and Hull, it’s a great opportunity for both clubs. Hull were really tough and resilient the other night and I think we need to be a little bit better than that.”