'All great servants': Wakefield Trinity boss hails departing players ahead of Giants clash

Having already secured Betfred Super League survival, Trinity are chasing a fifth successive win which could lift them to ninth in the table.

And they will also be bidding to farewell to a host of departing players, including captain

Jacob Miller.

Others set to play their last game for Trinity are Tinirau Arona, Brad Walker, Yusuf Aydin and David Fifita.

Also leaving the club after Friday’s game are the long-serving trio of Tom Johnstone, Bill Tupou and James Batchelor, who are all injured, plus 2022 signings Sid Adebiyi and Thomas Minns.

“We’ve put ourselves in a position to finish as high as we can,” coach Willie Poching said.

“We’ve had a pretty good run of wins and we’d like to finish that way.

“We understand the opposition are hungry and preparing for the play-offs, but we want to close out our time together as a group the best way possible.

“We could go up another place and that would be nice, too, compared to where things were six weeks ago.”

When Trinity went bottom of the table in July, their top-flight place seemed in serious jeopardy and Poching added: “Regardless of who you play, to pick up four wins in a row is pleasing, especially in the position we were in mentally.

“We tried to turn the confidence around, which we did and the way the players have applied themselves every single day to get those wins says a lot about the group and the resilience we’ve got.

“That’s why it’s important for us to close it out as well as we can.”

Miller is expected to join neighbours Castleford Tigers next season and Poching hailed him as an “outstanding” servant since joining Trinity in 2015.

But he stressed: “They all have been, it’s not fair to the others to put the spotlight on one.

“Every one of them has been a great servant, whether they’ve played one or two games or 200.

“The guys who have been out there on the field for six, seven, eight years deserve all the plaudits they get, but so do some of the guys who have put in the effort for the last year or so.

“They all go with the club’s best wishes and blessings for whatever happens next and they will always be a Wakefield Trinity player.

Fifita and Arona didn’t feature in Monday’s 34-18 win at St Helens, but could return for a farewell appearance.

Mason Lino, Kelepi Tanginoa, Lee Kershaw, Josh Bowden and Jamie Shaul are also included in Trinity’s 21-man squad after not playing at TW Stadium.

Liam Kay, who suffered a broken hand against Saints, drops out along with Kyle Evans and Adebiyi.

Huddersfield Giants: from Pryce, Leutele, Golding, Lolohea, Hill, Levi, Lawrence, Jones, McQueen, English, Ikahihifo, O’Brien, Wilson, Cudjoe, L Senior, Russell, I Senior, Mason, Ashworth, Hewitt, King.

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Miller, Lino, Battye, Arona, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Crowther, Gaskell, Kershaw, Croft, Walker, Aydin, Bowes, Murphy, Shaw, Hall, Butler, Fifita, Bowden, Shaul.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield).

Kick-off: Friday, 7.45pm.