Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell on importance of staying focused every week
Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell believes his team’s ability to stay focused will be the key to whether they can achieve their aim to make the Super League play-offs.
A top six finish would be a fair achievement for a team that has just come up from the Championship and even more impressive given the injury list they have had to contend with.
A comprehensive 46-10 victory at Huddersfield Giants in their latest game kept Trinity on track and eighth-placed Warrington’s defeat to Castleford Tigers also aided their cause.
They remain a point behind Hull in sixth, but know a play-offs finish is still in their own hands and with four matches still to come against sides in the bottom three they could even be favourites to end in the top six. And that is why head coach Powell is guarding against any complacency.
He said: "Don't take anything for granted, I'd say. If you go in with the wrong attitude against teams you're expected to beat, you get beat.
"For us, it's all about attitude, staying focused and playing our game. We went away from that last week (against Hull) and you get hurt if you do that.
"It's important we stay focused and take it week to week. It doesn't matter who you're playing – it's about your performance levels.
"We play Huddersfield again, have got a couple of games against Salford and Cas away. But we've got Leeds and Saints in our next couple of games. We've also got Hull KR at home and Wigan away, so it's a mixed bag.
"It's all about us. If we play well against anybody, I feel like we'll be in the game.
“Everybody wrote us off and put us at 100/1. That's motivation and fuel for us all. We’ve used that and still are.
"Teams are probably still taking us a bit lightly. They all talk about us throwing the ball about but that's an oversimplification of the way we're playing. We'll just keep on doing what we're doing. If we're on then we're a tough team to beat."
Powell is hoping that there will be some big competition for places to drive standards in the closing weeks with players coming back from injury.
He added: "Competition for places helps more than anything else and that's something we haven't really had this year. That'll make a big difference for us."
Trinity can take a giant stride towards the play-offs if they can get another win when they host fourth-placed Leeds tonight.