Wakefield Trinity boss Willie Poching pledges to turn pre-season defeat at Featherstone Rovers into a 'positive'

A strong Wakefield side were beaten 22-18 at the Betfred Championship title hopefuls in their final practice match.

That left Poching and his players with three weeks to fix things up ahead of Trinity’s Super League opener at home to Hull on Sunday, February 13.

Poching was happy with preparations up until last weekend, with a second-string side performing well in defeat at Leeds Rhinos on Boxing Day and the senior players recording a big win over Halifax earlier this month.

The coach insisted there is no need to change course after last Sunday’s setback and believes they will be better for it, if they learn from what went wrong.

“It was disappointing,” Poching admitted.

“They were physical, as we expected and they came out and played to their size. There’s a lot of take-aways for us which, used and analysed in the right way, will be a positive for us.”

He stressed: “That’s what pre-season is for, to iron those things out.

“It has been going well, we’ve gone along nicely and hit a bit of a blip, but that’s all it is. We don’t have to throw everything out; we are on course and we just need to use it as a good wake-up call for us.”

Poching confirmed Trinity came out of the derby with no major new injury worries.

“Everyone seemed fit and well and ready to go,” added Poching, who is entering his full season in charge at Belle Vue. “We want everyone on board for the next three weeks to prepare for round one.”

The coronavirus pandemic has put paid to any prospect of warm-weather training, but Poching said his squad will be getting away for a few days in the Peak District before the Hull game.

He revealed: “We have got a mini-camp organised. We are going to spend some time together and do some team activities.

“It is not a flog-athon, we are almost done with our pre-season program so it is just spending a bit of time together and getting to know each other a bit more.”