Plenty of hard work ahead for Wakefield Trinity to get back up to Super League standard, says head coach Chris Chester

Trinity are set to return to training on July 20, four months after they played their last fixture before the season was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.

Wakefield are still waiting to see who they will play, and where the game will be held, on their return to action in August.

The revised fixture list is close to being finalised and Chester is excited to get back on the training pitch with his squad

“That is the best part of the job, being out on the field with the players,” said Chester.

“We have only got three weeks, it is like a mini pre-season. There is going to be plenty of work that will need to go in to get the players re-conditioned again.

“They have been doing a fair bit at home and I am fairly confident they will have stuck to what we have asked them to do.

“We are ready and we have planned everything for those first three weeks back.

“We have got something to aim at and hopefully the restrictions will be relaxed by the time we get back.”

Chester revealed this week that Danny Brough will be sidelined for Wakefield’s return as he waits for a hip surgery.

The NRL has seen a spate of injuries in recent weeks after returning to action on May 28.

Super League clubs had played more games before the season was suspended than their Australian counterparts and have had to wait much longer before returning, making injuries an inevitability.

“We will get a good gauge of what the players have been doing while they have been off when we get back in,” Chester added.

“We haven’t got a great deal of time to get the players back up to speed.

“As you have seen in the NRL, there are injuries to players who maybe hadn’t stuck to what they had been asked to do at home or whether it is the pitch or if it is because they only had a short time to prepare.

“There is an argument for all of those things.

“I am hopeful and fairly confident that the majority of the lads have stuck to what we have asked but we will soon find out on July 20 when we come into train.”

Joe Arundel is ruled out for the season with an ACL problem while Adam Tangata has been struggling with a shoulder injury.

The pair are unlikely to return to training with the majority of Trinity’s squad on July 20 while Ben Jones-Bishop could return after not playing this season due to illness.