Warning for Wakefield Trinity as Sheffield Eagles expected to ‘come back at us’ after Wembley defeat
Wakefield Trinity are approaching their final eight games of the regular “super long” Championship season - and head coach Daryl Powell expects Friday night’s opponents Sheffield Eagles “to come back at us” after the 1895 Cup final victory at Wembley.
Trin welcome the Eagles to the DIY Kitchens Stadium tomorrow evening (Friday, August 9, kick off 8pm) for a tasty first versus third clash.
Powell’s men have won both their previous games against Sheffield in 2024, more recently, and famously, the 50-6 triumph at the national stadium to claim the 1895 Cup in June. They also came out on top when the sides met in the league in South Yorkshire back in May.
And despite Trinity being eight points ahead of the Eagles - who held on to beat Doncaster 22-20 last week - at this stage going into Round 19 of 26, Powell is expecting a “challenge.”
He told the Wakefield Express: “It will be tough. They play with a lot of width and that is an area - how we defend in the wider shifts - that we really need to improve on.
“It will be challenging and they’ll want to come back at us. We have beaten them a couple of times this year and I know they have had a tough game last weekend.”
Powell has had to deal with a number of injuries in recent weeks and he admitted the final few weeks of the regular season is about “piecing it all together,” ahead of the “big games” in the play-offs and, ultimately, the Grand Final.
He said: “Obviously you want to win every game and we are trying to time our run until the end of the year but eight games is still a lot of games.
“We are managing getting people back from injury. Caleb Uele is potentially out for another five weeks, Isaiah Vagana is coming back, Renouf Atoni - we have got some real big boys who are just watching the game at the moment.
“Jermaine McGillvary, Matty Ashurst and Luke Gale were rested (against Dewsbury). It’s about piecing it all together, getting people back from injury and then trying to keep everybody fit and healthy so that when we get to the big games we are fine tuned and flying.
“It has been a super long season. I think we have done a pretty good job. We have been a bit clunky here and there but it’s a brutal game and the boys are putting their bodies on the line every single week. It takes a lot of doing.”
He added: “For our boys it’s a bit different,. In Super League, you’re having Thursday, Friday games, you get the weekends with your family here and there. This is quite tough. It’s attritional and it’s a long season. I hope everybody understands how hard the boys are working and how super committed they all are here.”
On Gale, who will be staying with the academy at Wakefield to as a coach after announcing his retirement from playing last week, Powell said:
“He has been awesome. I worked with him before at Castleford when he came from Bradford and he became an integral part of what happened there. He became a really good, controlling half.
“He went to Leeds and won that Challenge Cup on his own the way he controlled the game for Leeds. He has been a phenomenal player and I think he will be a phenomenal coach.
“He has got a lot to learn about how you coach, how you manage people, how you put sessions together and put a team together.
“Ultimately, he is a great fella, he loves the game and I am hoping he goes out in exactly the way he wants to with Wakefield as we finish the season the way we want to.”