Star man set for debut to Wakefield Trinity hit by triple setback ahead of Catalans Dragons

Gale has yet to feature since joining Trinity from Keighley Cougars at the start of this month, but is in the initial squad for Friday’s clash with Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.

“We are just making sure he is a-okay,” coach Mark Applegarth said. “He has trained, we will do some final checks [on Thursday], but as long as he passes all them he will be fit and available.”

Applegarth said the ex-Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers scrum-half has already had an influence. He added: “He has been a massive help in giving us a bit of direction and freeing up some other players.

“We have trained all week with Max [Jowitt], Mason [Lino] and Galey and it has looked really sharp.”

Trinity will be without winger Tom Lineham, centre Lee Gaskell and prop Renouf Atoni from the side knocked out of the Betfred Challenge Cup by Leigh Leopards a week earlier.

“Tom's finger kept dislocating and he couldn't get it back in,” Applegarth revealed.

“He put his hand up this week, but the medical staff rightly want to get him to a specialist to see what the issue is.

“His swelling is pretty horrible, but hopefully that will settle down next week and, as long as no surgery is needed, he’ll be back in contention for the Magic Weekend game against Leigh [on Sunday, June 4]”.

Applegarth added: “Lee Gaskell dislocated his thumb against Leigh and has got a bit of a hamstring injury from the same game. He has been ruled out for this week and Renouf has a grade two MCL [medial collateral ligament, knee] strain so we're looking at anywhere from four to eight weeks.”

Reece Lyne (calf muscle), Samisoni Langi (ankle) and Jai Whitebread (groin) remain on the casualty list.

Applegarth said Langi could be out of action for up to eight weeks, Whithbread is due for a scan, but has a chance of featuring at Magic Weekend and Lyne is set to begin running at training next week.

Max Jowitt has recovered from an ankle injury and could make his first appearance since the round one home loss to Catalans.

Jack Croft - who returned to Wakefield this week after a spell playing in Australia’s Queensland Cup - is added to the initial squad and Matty Ashurst, Kelepi Tanginoa, Lee Kershaw and Liam Kay are also vying for a matchday recall .