Own errors, ‘poor’ defence and ‘weak’ decision cost Wakefield Trinity at leaders Leeds Rhinos

The Rhinos made it five wins on the spin to go four points clear of Wakefield at the top of the table, with Maika Sivo scoring his fourth hat-trick of 2026 on Leeds’ way to a 40-22 victory.

And while Trinity - who also had to contend with losing Cameron Scott to a serious-looking injury in the opening minutes - weren’t at their best, Sivo, arguably, was lucky to still be on the pitch to complete his treble having belatedly taken out Josh Rourke.

Describing the action-packed Round 10 contest as “carnage”, Powell said at his post-match press conference:

“The whole game was just carnage from start to end. We dropped the ball on play one, conceded two points, and then Cam gets knocked out even before we’ve got the ball. It was hard.

“Then Rourkey comes off. I am not sure about the decision there. It is a weak call to be honest. I don’t think it was the defining part of the game. But I’ll ask questions, for me it looked like it was a straight red.”

Trin have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks with Seth Nikotemo missing the game through a head-knock from last week’s defeat at St Helens.

And there was more re-shuffling to be done at Headingley when Oliver Pratt, scorer of Trin’s first of four great tries last night, left for his own HIA.

“They are all tough re-shuffles,” Powell said. “We were a little bit down on personnel anyway. It ended up being a carnage of a game to manage.

“We had to re-shuffle our edges a bit and your edges need to be training together consistently. We ended up with Pittsy in the centre at times and he will always do a good job wherever he goes but you’re losing your cutting edge and your combination.

“It was pretty difficult to manage.”

More importantly, Powell provided a positive update on Scott.

He said: “He’s come round and he’s okay. His scan is clear. Seeing it from a distance it didn't look like he was moving too much which is obviously always a concern but he seems to be okay.

“That is the main thing out of it all that he is good.”

Despite the decision not to send Sivo off and Trin’s seemingly growing injury list, Powell believes his side didn’t do enough to beat the league leaders.

He said: “I was disappointed to lose but Leeds are playing pretty hot at the minute so I felt like we needed to get more right than we got right to be able to win. There are a few things when watching it back to discuss with the players or referees, there are all sorts in there.

“We got close and there were some unbelievable pieces of play to get us close and then we just shot ourselves in the foot. We continued to do that.

“I thought we defended poorly. We scored 22 points, which should be enough to win a game. But if you are gifting Leeds possession on your own line then you are going to get put under a bit of pressure.

“I don’t think we were ever that great. We created a few chances and whenever we were in a good attacking position I thought we were going to score but we weren’t there enough.

“I don’t think we played a smart enough, a clean enough, game to win. There were way too many errors, particularly in yardage. We were littered with things that are going to make it difficult for you to win against the better teams.

“Leeds are flying, they are scoring points and we gave them plenty of opportunities, way too many opportunities, to open us up on our tryline.”

A major positive to come out of the defeat was the performance of two-try hero Jayden Myers.

“He is a real class player for the future,” Powell said. “He just needs to back himself a little bit more which is what he did tonight. He is big and physical and he has got footwork which is pretty sharp.

“It was a great game for him. He was outstanding and his finishing there was top drawer.”