New captain Mike McMeeken ready to be Wakefield Trinity's leader on the pitch

​The experienced England international has been backed to lead by example by head coach Daryl Powell, with who he has previously worked at Castleford Tigers.

The 30-year-old forward takes over from Matty Ashurst, who left the club at the end of the 2024 season, and is looking forward to taking on the extra responsibility that being skipper involves.

He said: “It’s a massive honour to be named captain of a club with a great history and to be named captain at the beginning of the journey that we are going on – it’s an exciting time to be part of it.

"Initially when I spoke with Powelly he was saying that he wanted me to be captain and it was a big part of why I wanted to be a part of the team and wanted to be a leader.

"Hopefully we can do something special.

“I’m obviously named as captain, but the great thing about this club and the group we have got is that we have different captains on the field as well – people like Pittsy (Jay Pitts) and Hoody (Liam Hood) who’ve got a lot of experience in the game as well and they are great leaders.

"It’s a big role for me, but at the same time it won’t change what I do on and off the field so I’ll still be the same person.”

McMeeken added: “I am really looking forward to the first home game. Hopefully we can get as many people here as possible and if we can get it rocking that will be great – and if we can pick up the two points even better.

"Pre-season’s going well and we get a week away in Tenerife now when we can fine tune a few things structurally and get to spend a bit more time together on and off the field.

"The conditioning staff have really put us through it and skill-wise I think we are finely tuning the little details now.”

Head coach Powell added: “Mike has grown massively over his career as a player and a leader and I believe he will lead our leadership group in an outstanding way, he will lead the team as he does by example, but also with his knowledge and experience of playing the game at international level and in big games across his career.”