The final weeks of the season are crucial says Wakefield Trinity boss Chris Chester

Chester’s side take on Huddersfield Giants at TW Stadium, St Helens, tomorrow aiming to end a run of 10 straight defeats since returning from the coronavirus shutdown.

Chester insisted: “There’s people off contract who are playing for contracts, players on contract that need to perform better, no doubt about that and me as a coach, I need to perform better.

“I am not hiding from that, I take full responsibility for the team I put out and what we do during the week.

“It’s an important few weeks for everybody, we will see what happens and I am expecting a good performance this week.”

Chester described 2020 as “a nightmare season and one we want to forget”.

He stressed: “It has been really difficult and it is important we get something from the last six games.

“We will be going all out to have a good crack [tomorrow]. The further you get through the year, the harder it gets – you are looking for positives to take into pre-season and we are just not quite getting it.

“We’re not quite clicking; in parts we are showing we can play and we look like a good team, but in others it looks like we’ve been thrown together.

“We are trying to build something for next year and build some consistency within the group and it would be nice to get two or three wins before the end of the season.

“It is going to be difficult, we go Thursday-Sunday, Thursday-Sunday, but we just need to get the fixtures done and focus on next season.”

Wakefield’s defeats have been by margins ranging from one point to 58 and their inconsistency is the most frustrating thing for Chester. After pushing St Helens all the way and being beaten 20-16 two weeks ago, they were crushed 48-6 by the same team six days later.

He said: “It’s not the losses, it’s more why we can’t do that week-in, week-out.

“We can be good for a couple of weeks and then fall off a cliff after 20 minutes the week after.

“When it comes to recruitment, £100,000 players are that for a reason – because they are consistent week-in, week-out.

“We’re not in the market for those kind of players, we either have to nurture our own or look elsewhere and be patient and wait until the end of the year.”

Captain Jacob Miller is in contention to return tomorrow, along with Kyle Wood, Tinirau Arona, Jay Pitts and Jordan Crowther.

“It will be nice to get some important players back for us, in terms of leadership,” Chester admitted.

Ben Jones-Bishop and Adam Tangata, who did not play last week, are also included in Trinity’s initial squad and young hooker Harry Bowes is in contention for his debut.

Trinity have been hit by another Covid-19 outbreak after three players and one member of staff tested positive for the virus.

Chester will be without four players in total for tomorrow’s fixture against Huddersfield after one further player was stood down following the implementation of track and trace protocols.

Giants are without Jermaine McGillvary from the side which lost to Hull eight days ago. James Gavet, Oliver Wilson, Ukuma Ta’ai, Louis Senior and Ronan Michael are vying for a call into the 17.

Huddersfield Giants: from Golding, Jake Wardle, Turner, Gaskell, Sezer, Gavet, Matagi, Edwards, Joe Wardle, Lawrence, English, Wilson, Ta’ai, Cudjoe, Holmes, Senior, Hewitt, S Wood, McQueen, Michael, Moore.

Wakefield Trinity: from A Walker, Johnstone, Lyne, Jones-Bishop, Miller, Fifita, K Wood, Arona, Ashurst, Pitts, Batchelor, Green, Tangata, Crowther, Jowitt, Croft, Hampshire, Aydin, Bowes, Tangata, Battye.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes).

Kick-off: Tomorrow, 7.45pm, at TW Stadium, St Helens.

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