Wakefield Trinity boss makes defiant pledge, reveals Kelepi Tanginoa injury latest, explains kicking change

Trinity, who visit Salford Red Devils on Friday, are two points behind Castleford Tigers with five rounds remaining after losing 28-12 in last week’s battle of Betfred Super League’s bottom-two.

That means Trinity need to win their own games and also hope Castleford don’t, but Applegarth stressed: “If we had won it I would have been saying exactly the same - you can’t rest on your laurels.”

He said: “We are back into the mode of needing a team to slip up for us to be in control of our own destiny again.

“It’s a challenge we have got to face head-on and embrace and that’s exactly what we will be doing.”

It is a tough situation for Trinity, but midway through the campaign they were six points adrift of safety and without a win and Applegarth knows his men won’t give in.

“It is a test of your mettle and what you are like under pressure,” he said. “You either embrace the challenge or shy away from it and we’ve got a bunch of lads I am 100 per cent sure will be relishing that challenge.

“We know we let ourselves down [last week]. We were disappointed with how we played and we felt we went into our shells a bit.

“We felt we let in some soft tries and wasted some opportunities and naturally, we want a response from it.

“We are just focusing on ourselves and making sure we can come off the field and look each other in the eye and say we’ve given it everything we’ve got.”

Applegarth will select from an unchanged 21, including Will Dagger, Sam Eseh, Jack Croft and Romain Franco alongside the players beaten by Tigers.

After Max Jowitt and Luke Gale failed to convert any of Trinity’s tries last week, Applegarth said Mason Lino could take over against Salford.

He revealed: “Mason’s had a bit of a groin niggle, so he handed kicking duties over. It was just a bit of an off night with the boot for us and there’s been quite a bit of goal kicking practice this week.”

Star forward Kelepi Tanginoa remains on the long-term casualty list with a broken arm, but is expected to return before the end of the season.

Applegarth said. “He has got the pot off and been for a CT scan. The specialist is pretty happy and as long as there’s no hiccups, he should be back for the last three rounds.

“Everyone is itching to have him back, it’s like having your favourite toy in your toybox, that you’re not allowed to play with.

“He has had a really unlucky year, a couple of hamstring injuries and then this broken arm. He doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break at the moment, so hopefully we can get him back and he can be a big player for us in the last three games.”

Salford Red Devils: from Brierley, Sio, Watkins, Lafai, Burgess, Croft, Sneyd, Ormondroyd, Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Dixon, Stone, Partington, Atkin, Addy, Sidlow, Bourouh, Hellewell, Greenwood, Cross, Singleton.

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Lyne, Lineham, Lino, Battye, Hood, Whitbread, Ashurst, Pitts, Kay, Bowden, Atoni, Proctor, Eseh, Dagger, Senior, Gale, Croft, Fifita, Franco, Griffin.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds). Kick-off: Friday, 7.45pm.