Wakefield Trinity coach reveals advice to Jack Sinfield as Leeds Rhinos 'big favourites' for Challenge Cup tie

Sinfield played 29 times for Leeds before being released from the final year of his contract last autumn. The BBC-streamed Betfred Challenge Cup fourth round tie is the first time he has faced Rhinos in a competitive game and Powell insisted: “I want him to take everything about Leeds out of his head and just go and play a calm game.”

He said: “He has started the season really well and he can’t worry too much about that - that’s the past for him, this is his present and his future and he just needs to focus on doing his job and not worry too much about Leeds.

“Just go and play the way he has been playing. He has started the season great; he had an unbelievable pre-season and he has carried that into the games.”

Leeds have won the last 14 Challenge Cup ties between the sides, dating back to 1942 and Powell reckons they are “pretty big favourites” to reach the quarter-finals this time. “I don’t think we’ve really hit our straps, we certainly haven’t had consistency in our outside-backs,” he admitted. “There’s been a few changes there from week to week and we just want to get people playing well and get our performances going in the right direction.

“We’ve won two from four in the league, which is an all right start, but I think we can play much, much better. Leeds have hit the ground absolutely flying, but for us I feel like there’s a really good performance just around the corner and I’d like to think it’s in this game. We’ve trained pretty well this week, there’s a glint in the players’ eyes looking forward to this game and every game on its day can be won by either team.

“I think they are big favourites, but we aren’t going to be too worried about that. We’ll just go and get after the game and see if we can get our best performance out there. If we do that, then I reckon we are a challenge for everybody.”

All Rhinos’ top 17 players are included in their initial squad and they go into the game on the back of three successive wins, during which they’ve scored 126 points and conceded 24. “They have been good,” Powell reflected.

“They look sharp, [Jake] Connor looks great and [Lachie] Miller at the back. The pack has been physical and robust, they look like they are flying at the moment and they’ll rightly feel confident in themselves and what they are doing.

“The job for us is to go and dismantle that. We know we’ll have to be outstanding to do that, but we’ve got the players to do it. We just have to come together with a top performance.”

Leeds winger Maika Sivo is looking to add to his tally of nine tries in three games since returning from a long-term knee injury. “You’ve got to put your body in front of him,” Powell stated. “You’ve got to play smart and kick smart, but they have got threats everywhere. I think he’s just jumping on the back of some unbelievable play from the rest of the team.

“He is a big, powerful unit so you need to be good around him, but they’ve got Ryan Hall and both centres are playing sharp. Individually they are playing really well so you’ve got to deal with a lot of threats and he’s a significant one as well.”