Warrington Wolves will be an 'acid test' for Wakefield Trinity

Trinity have won their last three games with their victory over Hull KR on May 23 proving a turning point after a tough start to the season.

Until that point, they had lost every game in the league and cup in 2021.

Their latest triumph came last weekend as they left it late to defeat bottom-of-the-table Leigh Centurions. Warrington head into Friday’s contest on the back of a defeat in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat against Castleford Tigers.

Trinity haven’t won on their last seven visits to Warrington with their last victory at The Halliwell Jones Stadium coming back in 2014.

“It is an acid test this week against Warrington,” said head coach Chester

“It was always going to be a tough game last week with a team who had just lost their coach and were desperate to impress the new guy in charge.

“Leigh were excellent but we weren’t quite at our best. We were all slightly off it and a little bit jaded.

“The emotion over the last eight to nine weeks has taken a lot out of the players.

“We are playing against a top-four side now who are going to be hurting after their loss last weekend.

“We are on form and are confident but I am sure they will want to put their best foot forward.”

Trinity were trailing against Leigh until the final 10 minutes on Sunday when Liam Kay and Mason Lino scored late tries to seal the win for Chester’s side.

The Wakefield chief expects the Wire to respond after their Cup exit on Saturday but insists the focus this week has been on improving the standards within his own side.

He added: “They will probably be emotionally fragile. They were expected to win that game and every year, Warrington are expected to be in a final of some sort. They’ve got one more to go at now in the Grand Final.

“The focus has been on us and the improvements we need to make from the weekend. I thought the standards dipped last week in things like concentration and execution.”

Castleford ran in six tries against Warrington on Sunday and Chester revealed that Trinity’s neighbours have given him things to think about ahead of the fixture at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

He continued: “It is difficult to change a great deal in the time we have but they [Castleford] have certainly given us some food for thought.

“Warrington are probably looking at us from the weekend and thinking they can exploit some of our poor decision making. As a group, we are looking forward to seeing how far we have come in such a short space of time.

“These guys set some targets at the beginning of the season and this will show us how far we have come since the beginning of the year.”

Wakefield’s preparations this week were buoyed by the appearance of England coach Shaun Wane at their training session on Tuesday.

The former Wigan Warriors’ head coach will lead an England training session on Monday with the national side set to take on a Combined Nations XIII at the end of the month.

Chester added: “I can’t speak highly enough of Shaun; I’ve never met a guy so passionate about the game and his country.

“It was a real eye-opener seeing him here sat with the staff and tipping us up and chatting with us about things he’s wanting to do at England level.”