Castleford Tigers v Wakefield Trinity: Chester eyes first win as coach over neighbours

Trinity were thrashed 38-4 at Salford Red Devils, but Chester believes facing their near-neighbours will bring the best out of his side.

“I think it is a good game for us to have this week,” the coach insisted. “It is a big derby game and I am sure the players will be up for it.

“I certainly am. I have never beaten them as Wakefield coach, but we are looking forward to it – they are always tough games and usually close.”

Trinity were pipped 11-6 at home by Tigers a month ago.

“It could have gone the other way,” Chester reflected. “There was a decent wind behind Cas in the first half and we got it in the second.

“We got beaten by five points, but we dropped the ball over the line three times. We know we are capable, but we know we have got to put in a good performance.

“We need to win, there’s no two ways about it. We want to win, we need to win and we will be doing everything we can to get the win.”

Reflecting on the drubbing at AJ Bell Stadium, Chester said: “I thought Salford were fantastic.

“Defensively they were very good and they caused us a lot of problems with the ball.

“We weren’t great, we know that. Without making any excuses, we’ve had a good chat among the coaching staff about how much the St Helens game the week before took out of us.

“Every game we’ve played over the last four or five weeks seems to have gone right down to the wire and whether that has taken its toll, I am not too sure. But no excuses from us, what we dished up was not good enough.

“I thought that kind of performance had long gone.”

Half-back Ryan Hampshire, forwards Chris Annakin and James Batchelor, and full-back Max Jowitt have all been drafted into Trinity’s initial 19-man squad. And winger Tom Johnstone and prop Pauli Pauli are vying for a recall to the matchday side. Captain Danny Kirmond drops out after a concussion last week and Trinity are without half-back Liam Finn who has been playing with a broken finger.

Full-back Scott Grix and loose-forward Justin Horo have been omitted.