Wakefield Trinity coach Daryl Powell admits 'exceptionally good' performance needed to win at Leeds Rhinos

Table-topping Rhinos are at full-strength and on a four-game winning streak in Betfred Super League, while Trinity will make the short journey to AMT Headingley without several first-choice players. Wakefield can take confidence from wins in three of the teams’ last four meetings, including a 24-14 Challenge Cup victory on their own ground in March, but Powell stressed: “We’re a few players light, so you’d look and say they’re pretty heavy favourites.”

Powell - a member of Leeds’ Challenge Cup final-winning team against London Broncos 27 years ago today - warned: “They are at home, the last two games they have been scoring for fun and their key players are all playing well. I don’t think they’ve got an injury in sight [so] they should rightly feel confident about themselves.”

That said, the Trinity boss insisted his fourth-placed team, who were pipped 18-12 away to St Helens last Saturday after trailing 16-0 at the break, aren’t daunted. Leeds are unbeaten at home this season, but he insisted: “I just think we’re capable of winning any game we go into, I think we know that.

“I think we should be respected for what we're doing at the moment, but I think we can get a whole lot better. I’m going into games against St Helens and Wigan expecting us to win. I think that’s the way we should be feeling and it's the same this week. It’s a tough challenge, but if we play well then we’re good enough to come out the other side with a win, but I do think we’re going to have to be exceptionally good.”

Rhinos have scored 102 points in their past two games, having beaten Huddersfield Giants 56-22 and Catalans Dragons 46-4 and their side includes the competition’s two top try scorers at the start of round 10, Maika Sivo and Brodie Croft. Of how to keep Leeds at bay, Powell stressed his men need to “look after the ball, kick well and chase well”.

He added: “You’ve got to do everything pretty well from a defensive point of view and we recognise that. They’ve got players who are all playing well - the spine is pretty hot at the moment so they are a challenge.

“They are good everywhere you look, I think. We know what we’ve got to do, we know how good we have got to be. Over the last couple of years, we've played pretty well against Leeds and to give yourself a chance, you’ve got to defend exceptionally well everywhere.

“Huddersfield started well against them, but once you get punched on the nose you can’t keep letting it bleed. I think that’s the thing, you’ve got to be really durable, because they will throw a lot at you.”