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Widnes Vikings v Wakefield: Wildcats relish challenge of artificial pitch
IN CONTENTION: Youngster Kyle Trout, who has been named in the Wildcats squad to face Widnes.
New-look Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have no fear about breaking fresh ground when they kick-off their Stobart Super League campaign away to Widnes Vikings tonight.
It will be the first Super League game played on an artificial surface, but Wildcats skipper Steve Southern and coach Richard Agar are refusing to make an issue of Widnes’ 4G I-pitch.
“It is something different and I always like a new challenge,” said Southern, who is set to make his competition debut tonight.
“I am not worried about it at all, it might even make me feel faster so that’ll be good!”
Wildcats trained yesterday on Leeds Rhinos’ artificial 3G pitch at Kirkstall, but Agar stressed that was due to the weather rather than thoughts of tonight’s venue.
“It is a talking point for everyone,” Agar said of the new field. “Rugby league – as a governing body and teams themselves – has always tried different things.
“It is innovative and I am not going to make any judgment until we’ve played on it and we’ve seen how it has gone over a period of time.
“You may well find that it is the future and a lot of teams adopt it. We haven’t made an issue of it with the players.
“Quite often teams use 3G surfaces during the winter, to train on. This isn’t a 3G pitch, but it’s similar.
“We weren’t going to train on a plastic pitch in the build-up to the match, however the inclement weather forced us into that.
“More by circumstance than design we have had a run on a plastic pitch, but if it hadn’t been for the weather we were just going to rock up and get on with it.”
Agar said Vikings coach Denis Betts has given him some advice about the new surface.
he added: “I am excited that we are on a new pitch, against a promoted team and on Sky. I think that’s fantastic for us as a club, it puts us in the shop window and puts some challenges in front of us.
“In an ideal world, if we could have scripted it ourselves, we would have wanted a bit more time. A couple of our trial games, against Leeds and Catalan, didn’t come at great times for us during the course of pre-season.
“But we did take a lot of confidence from our last outing, against Castleford and I think we’ve got enough experienced boys out there. Like everybody else, they are excited to get started.”
Southern also insisted that Wildcats are “ready to go”.
Said the captain: “we have got a lot of signings, but we’re looking forward to tonight’s game to see how we go.
“Widnes have got a lot of players who are coming out of the Championship and want to prove themselves in Super League and we’ve got a lot of proven experienced Super League players.
“I think it’s going to be a good game and it’s a bit of an honour to be opening the competition on Sky. That’s an incentive to play well, because everyone will be watching.”
Wildcats’ initial 19-man squad includes 16 new faces. Kyle Amor and Paul Johnson are the only survivors from last year’s first team, while Kyle Trout has come through the academy ranks, but has not yet played a senior game.
Chris Dean, signed from Wakefield, is among 12 off-season recruits in Widnes’ initial squad.
Widnes Vikings: from Ah Van, Allen, Cahill, Clarke, Coyle, Craven, Cross, Dean, Haggerty, Hanbury, Isa, Kavanagh, Leuluai, Marsh, Moore, Mullally, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: from Mathers, Fox, Mellars, Collis, Cockayne, John, Wood, Wilkes, Ellis, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Southern, Washbrook, Aiton, Amor, Johnson, Kirmond, Smith, Trout.
Referee: Ben Thaler (Wakefield).
Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.
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