Wakefield Trinity boosted by double return for Castleford Tigers derby

Trinity have yet to get off the mark in three Betfred Super League fixtures at DIY Kitchens Stadium, Belle Vue, this term and are on a nine-game home losing run against Tigers, who they last beat there in September, 2013. Powell’s side have been more successful on their travels, picking up a trio of away victories before last week’s defeat at St Helens, but the team boss dismissed any suggestion of a home field jinx.

“I’m not going to talk about it to be honest,” he insisted. “I’ve mentioned it until the cows come home previously. I just think it’s nothing, a non-issue. I think we’re playing pretty well wherever we are. We’ll just crack on and get after this game, but I’m not making any issue out of it at all. I know other people are, but for me it’s a game that’s in front of us, just go and play well.”

Trinity will be boosted by the return of Max Jowitt and Josh Griffin after injury, Powell confirmed. He said: “Max will play this week. He might play at half, he might play at full-back, he might do a bit of both, but he's back.

“Josh will be in the team. He came back into the team pretty well when he was in there previously and then just had a little bit of a slight injury. He's back available so we've got a couple of options on what to do with the back-row."

However, former Tigers stand-off Jake Trueman remains on the casualty list with a back problem and Powell explained: “He has had a scan and he has got a little bit of a bulging disc. He has had an injection in his back to settle it down. He’s getting about at the minute, but he’s still pretty sore and pretty stiff and he can’t get on to the field this week.

“We’re just working through getting him back moving and getting him feeling comfortable. It's a pretty physical game, rugby league, so you need to be in a good place physically to play it. He's coming through a bit of an issue there, but we’re pretty hopeful and confident it’s not going to be long-term.”

Powell is a veteran of Wakefield-Castleford derbies, but this week is his first as Trinity coach. “It’s a big one,” he admitted. “It has been a couple of years since the last one so it should be an awesome atmosphere. It’s my first time on the Wakefield side as head-coach, but I think there have been outstanding games over the years.

“For us, the challenge is to get back on track and look after ourselves, focus on ourselves as a team and make sure we’re as good as we know we can be. We feel like we’ve done an awesome job from a recruitment perspective and we’ve got a lot of trust in the players we've got here to do a great job for us.”