Stirring fightback will help Wakefield Trinity kick on, says Kyle Wood

TWO-TRY Kyle Wood believes Wakefield Trinity’s spirit is unquestionable after their narrow defeat against Warrington Wolves and says they must just sort out the minutiae.
In at the double: Wakefield's Kyle Wood celebrates his second try with Tinirau Arona. 
Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeIn at the double: Wakefield's Kyle Wood celebrates his second try with Tinirau Arona. 
Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
In at the double: Wakefield's Kyle Wood celebrates his second try with Tinirau Arona. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

The diminutive hooker helped spark the club’s fightback as they recovered from 18-0 down and then 34-14 to almost stun their visitors at Belle Vue on Thursday night.

Four unanswered tries in just 14 minutes after the hour mark, including Wood’s brace, got Trinity to 34-32 but Danny Brough’s touchline conversion attempt of Joe Arundel’s last score fell wide.

“It was a game of two halves wasn’t it?” admitted Wood.

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“We didn’t start well and made too many errors in that first 20 minutes; against a good side like Warrington you can’t give them that much ball.

“They scored some good tries and we just couldn’t handle them but, once we got our fair share of the ball, I thought we did well. We had good effort and team spirit to come back.

“Watching on, I’m thinking Broughy probably gets that kick. On a different day he does. It’s just one of those things.

“We’ll be better for that and it shows what sort of team spirit we have; we stick together.”

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The elusive former Huddersfield Giants rake Wood thrived as Trinity’s pack started to get on top, also sniping away to help set up Max Jowitt’s try late on.

“When we play like that on the front foot with speed, we have players that can do good stuff for us,” said the 29-year-old.

“Dave Fifita and our other middles get the offloads or the quick play-the-ball and I can play off the back of that.

“Hopefully, we can take that kind of football we played in the second half to use in the rest of the season.”

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Warrington, with the sizeable Ben Murdoch-Masila and Chris Hill, targeted the slight Wood earlier on and he was exposed defensively at times.

The Castleford-born player admitted: “They are big, strong lads.

“Sometimes you just have to get your body in front, hope for the best and hope my fellow players – the big fellas – can help me drag them down.

“I was getting quite isolated in that first 10, 20 minutes and they made me do a lot of tackles.

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“But once we got our fair share of ball and into the arm-wrestle, that’s when we started getting line speed and winning the rucks.”

Wood is contracted until the end of 2021 and hopes, then, to hopefully see Belle Vue redeveloped before his Trinity career comes to an end.

The club – who host Salford Red Devils next Sunday – announced before kick-off it had bought the freehold of the antiquated stadium and can now look to bring it up to modern standards after plans for a purpose-built Community Stadium at Newmarket fell through.

Wood said: “It’s brilliant news. It’s moving forward. It’s been up in the air for so long and I want – all the players want – to run out at a new stadium here.

“It’d be great for us and it shows how far we’ve come the last few years – fighting for that top five, six spot – that stuff behind the scenes is now coming on. It’s great for the club and the fans.”