It’s revs rather than review for Wakefield Trinity coach Daryl Powell following last night’s (Thursday) hard-fought 26-12 win at Bradford Bulls.

The victory moved Trinity up to second in Betfred Super League, two points ahead of Wigan Warriors and a similar distance behind Leeds Rhinos, though rivals both have a game in hand. Powell admitted his side were below their best, but the coach won’t be stressing about that after seeing them dig deep to secure two precious points.

Powell said: “Maybe we lose that game last year. We’ve won another tight one and that’s pleasing from a coaching perspective. You want to see your team dig their way out of difficult situations.

“We were good enough to win, but I wouldn’t like to see us play like that too often. I don’t think that’s going to be good enough, but every team has those games where you don’t play at your best and just have to win. We’ve got a few days off now so the boys have a bit of time. I’m off to Formula 1 in Belgium and am not reviewing that game - I’m moving on.”

Matty Storton, Harvey Smith and Myles Lawford celebrate Wakefield Trinity's tough win at Bradford Bulls. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Matty Storton, Harvey Smith and Myles Lawford celebrate Wakefield Trinity's tough win at Bradford Bulls. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

Trinity scored before Bulls had been in possession, but the hosts refused to buckle and were only four points adrift for a long spell in the second half when they camped on Wakefield’s line. They also had three touchdowns ruled out by the match officials and Powell accepted: “It was a really tough game, we had to battle our way through loads of different stuff - the amount of time we were on our tryline in the second half in particular.

“The courage and determination to keep Bradford out was excellent. I don’t think we were ever really at our best, but Bradford were one of the reasons for that.”

With eight rounds remaining, Wakefield - who finished sixth in 2025 - are on track to secure a home play-off and possibly a semi-final place. Powell added: “We lost our first game at home to Toulouse and everybody was saying we had no chance, we were done and last year was a one-off.

Will Tate scores for Wakefield Trinity against Bradford Bulls at Odsal. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

“We now have to win games against big rivals to be seen as genuine contenders, but we’re in a great place. You have to enjoy it when you’re winning games. I think we’ve got a way to go, but we are working hard on it; we are pretty consistent at the moment and hard to beat. There’s loads of improvement in us, so we’ll just keep going.”