Wakefield Wildcats: Ex-Tiger Tansey just happy to be playing

Tansey made the move last month, but insisted he hasn’t fallen out with anybody at Tigers.

“I didn’t want to leave Cas,” Tansey stressed. “I enjoyed it and they are playing well at the moment, but I need to be playing.

“There’s no point staying if you’re not playing so that’s why I chose to come here, to get some game time.

“They have got a few players who can play full-back. Dorny (Luke Dorn) has come back and Benny Roberts was playing well when he got his chance, so my game time was limited.”

Of tomorrow’s clash, Tansey said: “It should be a good game. I have got a few good mates there and I’m looking forward to playing against them.

“Hopefully I might be able to tell Brian (coach Brian Smith) a few things about how they play, which might help us, but Cas are playing really well at the minute, so it’s going to be a tough game.

“We just need to perform well and if we do the result will take care of itself.”

Wildcats have just two games left to prepare for the Qualifiers, when their First Utility Super League status will be on the line against the other bottom four clubs in the top-flight and the leading quartet from the Kingstone Press Championship.

Coach Smith said: “The boys are pretty positive. The sense of competition is definitely in the air.

“We’ve got a big squad, we’ve gone from having 17 players available recently against Catalans away to this week having 26 or 27 guys fit and ready to play.

“We are about to enter the danger zone and it’s going to be vital we’ve got everybody we can possibly get on board to cover every position.

“The bit we are entering is deadly, we’ve got to win so getting all the pieces together for that has been our main aim and getting guys into good form, fit and fast and hopefully furious.”

Wildcats won at Castleford in their opening game of the campaign, but Tigers need to avenge that tomorrow to keep alive their top-four hopes. Smith added: “I am more than aware about how derbies work in this part of the world. I have an appreciation for what Daryl Powell and everyone at the Cas club has done last season and again this year.

“They have built into a formidable team.

“They play a good brand of rugby and they are not going to be easy, but at the same time we think we’re not going to be easy this weekend either.”

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats from: Locke, Tansey, Arundel, Lyne, Johnstone, Hall, Miller, Scruton, McShane, Simon, Lauitiiti, Washbrook, Annakin, Anderson, Walker, Mullally, Howarth, Molloy, T Smith.

Castleford Tigers from: Dorn, Solomona, Webster, Shenton, Carney, Gale, Finn, Lynch, Milner, Millington, O Holmes, McMeeken, Cook, Roberts, Boyle, Moors, Moore, Springer, Gibson.

Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham).

Kick-off: Tomorrow, 3pm.