Dare to dream urges boss as 'better than expected' Wakefield Trinity step up Challenge Cup bid
Boss Daryl Powell has urged his players to dare to dream of Challenge Cup glory.
Trinity, who visit Huddersfield Giants for a fourth round tie on Sunday, haven’t been in a Challenge Cup final since 1979, but won last year’s 1895 Cup showpiece at Wembley, played after the main event. It is a huge task for a newly-promoted team to reach a major final in their first season in Betfred Super League, but Leigh Leopards went from 1895 winners three years ago to Challenge Cup champions in the following campaign and Powell reckons anything is possible.
He insisted: “You have got to dream - there’s nothing wrong with that. It is a long journey and we need to be outstanding. There’s some teams in there who have got a lot of experience and we are still finding out what kind of team we should be, but I always think you should dream.
“I think that’s important - so many things are possible in sport, you shouldn’t discount anything. We don’t take anything for granted either and we know we’ve got to get this job done first.
“We are away from home and it is knockout football. You can’t get too much wrong in these games or that’s it.”
Trinity have won two of their four Super League games so far, both away from home and are on the back of a 30-16 victory at Warrington Wolves last Sunday. That was a spectacular result and Powell feels his men have been “a little bit better” than even they were expecting on their return to the top-flight.
“We’ve got players who are growing around the place and getting better every week,” he observed. “Last week was a big win for us and I think in three out of our four games so far, we’ve been exceptional. We could easily have won three out of four, but I think two out of four is a decent return for our first block of games.”
Though Giants have yet to get off the mark in Super League, Powell feels they are beginning to find their feet and warned Sunday will be a “fair challenge” for his side. “We will go there with some confidence, but knowing Huddersfield have shown some good signs,” he stated.
“They have been close in games and they were in front at half-time quite a lot - including against Wigan last week. They are growing and they have got some players back. They have had quite a lot of injuries so it is very difficult to get a consistent gauge on them, but it is a tough challenge for us.
“We have just got to look after ourselves and keep doing what we are doing and building our game. We are still learning about what our identity is going to be - that takes a while when you’ve got 10 new players.”