Start well, be better in clinch moments and believe you can achieve: Daryl Powell’s red, white and blueprint for Wakefield Trinity success in 2026 and beyond

Powell’s initial signature at the end of the 2023 campaign, after Trin were relegated from Super League, was new owner Matt Ellis’ first assignment. And the start of a project which has seen Wakefield rise back to the sport’s top table effortlessly.

But a splendid, sixth-placed, play-off finish in 2025 showed they were not merely content with just rubbing shoulders with the UK’s elite. It is a project where they want to be the best.

Key point number one for Powell: start well. The fixture gods weren’t exactly kind last season, with Trin facing Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR and St Helens in their opening three games, albeit a 14-12 victory at Headingley sent shockwaves around Super League, and the narrow defeat against the eventual Grand Final champions was nothing to be ashamed about.

This year, a home game under the lights with newly-promoted Olympique Toulouse is the curtain-raiser, while Trinity only face one top-six side from last year in the opening eight rounds.

“I have always thought it is important to start the season well,” Powell revealed ahead of the new season to the Wakefield Express. “There are different approaches. Wigan, generally, think they’re usually there at the end and sometimes they have been a little bit slow out of the blocks at the start.

“I think for a team like us, we want to be starting strong. We are at home, which is great, against Toulouse, but we can’t take anything for granted. We have got to turn up and play well.

“Starting well is important for us. Our first block of games are key and if we can start well then it gives us a good foundation.”

He added: “I am excited. We have built ourselves a good foundation over the last couple of years and we have incrementally added to the squad. We have got a way of playing that fits the players. We have signed players which fit that model.

“We did pretty well last year and learnt some lessons along the way. The players have a lot more knowledge about the competition, the coaches have more knowledge about the players we have got and what they are capable of doing. I think it is a good mix and we have got a great chance of doing well this year.

“We are all pretty excited about what we can do. It is about getting into and seeing how good we can be.”

Key point number two: win the close games. That 14-12 defeat in Round Two at home to the Robins last year was the first of seven lost by six points or less.

If those tight matches had all swung the other way, Trinity, remarkably, would have won the League Leaders’ Shield.

“We need to be a bit better in those clinch moments,” admitted Powell. “We need to be winning those tight games that we lost. You’re not going to win all of them but if we did, it would have put us top.

“We weren’t that far off from being unbelievable. We lost some tight games that we could have easily won. If we can be better in those moments this year then who knows.”

He added: “We want to be in the play-offs, that is what we are aiming for, but when we get there we want to do a bit better than we did last year. We are trying to grow in terms of getting closer to the end of the season and the big competitions.

“First and foremost it is about the week-to-week and being consistent and being as good as we can be.

“And, when you’re not quite at your best, then you have still got to win games and the best teams find a way to do that.”

And the third key point, according to Powell, comes from within the players themselves. Do they have that true inner-belief that they can be the best team in the country?

The popular head coach does not want to add any “pressure” onto the group - which has added star-studded quality this year with the eye-catching signings of Tyson Smoothy and Jazz Tevaga - but the confidence exuded by Ellis, and Powell, is infectious.

Powell said: “Matt just wants to do well. He is always larger than life, he gets in and around the boys, his personality is great, and he just wants to see us winning.

“We want to do well for everyone, for the fans, Matt, and we want the players to do well for themselves and their families. We are all in it together. We are all pretty close, we work hard and Matt rewards with what he is doing in terms of developing everything about the club, and the connection is a pretty strong one.

“But we don’t want to put any pressure on ourselves. The next two years are really important for the growth and the development of the team to see where we can go. We have got a lot of players who are really, really good players who could go to the next level. I see that in a lot of the boys.

“There is a real drive there to do well and winning things is what we are all after. We are a team that wants to win every week, not just compete. We want to be at the top of the table and we want to win competitions. There is a desire to do that.

“You don’t always get it but I think for this team, in terms of the next two years, it is important that they grow and start to believe they can be players who can achieve those things.

“We are starting to see the fruits of that but you really get judged when you get into the season.

“For me it has always been about having a consistent team and individually playing well every week, and, if we do that, there is a great chance the team is going to perform.”