Wakefield Trinity coach says 'anything's possible' as pressure all on Leigh Leopards in elimination play-off
Wakefield Trinity are happy to be written off as they begin their unexpected play-offs campaign.
A sixth-place finish in Betfred Super League has left Trinity two wins away from Old Trafford, just 11 months after securing promotion back to the top-flight. The first of those is this evening (Friday) when they travel to Leigh Leopards, who were third, for a sudden-death elimination clash.
Coach Daryl Powell and Dream Team member Mike McMeeken were surprise guests at a play-offs media event in Leeds this week and the team boss admitted: “Everybody I’ve spoken to is surprised we are here. They are all talking like ‘well done, can’t believe it’, but here we are with a chance to win a competition.”
Powell stressed: “We all know how difficult it will be, but when you are in it, anything’s possible. Leigh are a pretty formidable team, but I think we have got a great opportunity to do something special. It has been an awesome first season back in Super League and we’ve given ourselves a great chance. You get to this point and you’re in it - you certainly can’t win it if you’re outside it. We’ve got a chance to go and throw everything at it and see where we are.”
As favourites, Leigh are the team under pressure, according to Powell. “The pressure’s off us,” he claimed. “I don’t think anybody expects us to win it - Betfred don’t, we are 66-1. That hasn’t moved. I think we’ll use that as another bit of motivation. We are talking like there’s a chance to go on with this.
“There’s quite a lot of motivating factors, players who are leaving. People like Hoody [Liam Hood] for example, who has had some tough times at Wakefield. You want to do something special for those players, for yourselves and for the club.”
Powell insisted Trinity aren’t willing to settle just for being in the play-offs. “It would be crazy to get this opportunity and think ‘we are all right, we’ve done okay anyway’,” he added. “I don’t think that’s the mentality, but we have kind of got nothing to lose. I think that’s the key thing; everybody else has probably got more to lose than us because we aren’t expected to do anything. We’ll just go and be the best we can be.”
Though Leigh finished nine points better off on the table, Trinity won 40-14 there in March and both Leopards’ victories, at Wakefield in the Challenge Cup and league, could have gone either way. Powell said: “All three games we’ve played against Leigh will give us confidence
“I’ve watched them all back this week. We were pretty close in the cup game and Max [Jowitt] should have scored at the end to win that game in round 14. I don’t think there’s that much between the teams. There’s a couple of things they’re better at than us and a couple of things we’re better at than them. Whoever plays best on the day will win the game so we’ve just got to make sure that’s us.”
Trinity are without full-back Jowitt after he was concussed during last week’s win at Salford Red Devils. Oliver Russell and Ellis Lingard have been drafted into the 21-man squad. Leigh welcome back Edwin Ipape following a suspension.
Leigh Leopards: from Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Owen Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Hughes, Liu, Pene, Tuitavake, Davis, Dwyer, Brand, O’Neill, Badrock, McNamara, Hodgson, Ofahengaue.
Wakefield Trinity: from Scott, Johnstone, Trueman, O Russell, McMeeken, Hood, Rodwell, Nikotemo, Griffin, Pitts, Atoni, Storton, Pratt, Lino, Cozza, Rourke, Croft, Smith, Myers, Faatili, Lingard.
Referee: Liam Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.