Wakefield Trinity in 'good place' for Catalans Dragons test but coach issues 'consistency' warning

Six of Trinity’s eight Betfred Super League fixtures so far have been against teams who began this week in the play-off places and, with eight points from a possible 16, Wakefield are well in the mix to finish in the top half of the table. Powell insisted: “I said from the start, I think the fixture list was a bit unbalanced, but I think we’ve done a great job and we’ve been a bit unlucky in a couple of games, when we were close.

“We’ve been unlucky with injuries as well - we’ve been without key spine players in Max Jowitt and Jake Trueman - so considering all those things, we are in a good place.” But Powell stressed there’s some hard work still to be done.

“Now it’s about staying consistent,” he warned. “It is a long season and keeping your mind on what you are doing - not drifting and becoming too happy with what you’ve done - is important.”

Catalans began round nine in seventh spot, ahead of Trinity on points difference, having also won four games. After a shaky start, Powell reckons the French outfit have played themselves into form over the past month.

“The last four weeks, they’ve played Salford twice and Huddersfield,” he pointed out. “There’s a couple of teams there who have got a lot of players missing and I thought Catalans got a lot of opportunity to work on their attacking game and they looked pretty sharp.

“They’ve got a big team, so physically there’s a real challenge and [Luke] Keary is playing well on the left side. He is kicking well and he’s obviously a really experienced player who has played at the highest level. The weather is a challenge as well - it looks like it’s going to be pretty warm over there. We’ve spoken about those things, but it’s about putting it all into action. We know what we’ve got to do and it’s about doing it when you are under pressure.”

Trinity have a French connection and Powell is hoping some inside knowledge will come in handy for Saturday’s game. “We’ve got a couple of players in Tom [Johnstone] and Mike [McMeeken] who’ve been at Catalans and we’ve got a Frenchman here as well in [Mathieu] Cozza, so they can offer some insights,” he said. “There are a few changes though - Keary will have a big influence and my old coaching partner Ryan Sheridan as well, but they have spoken about a couple of things which could be beneficial.”

Trinity are without prop Ky Rodwell who suffered a knee injury in last week’s win against Castleford Tigers. Second-rower Seth Nikotemo has been included in their initial 21-man squad, despite Powell saying earlier in the week he won’t play because of damaged ribs.

Catalans Dragons: from Makinson, R Smith, Cotric, Keary, Pangai Jr, Garcia, Bousquet, Sims, Whitehead, Partington, da Costa, Satae, Navarette, Sironen, Rouge, Seguier, Fages, Yaha, Laguerre, Maria, Aispuro-Bichet

Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt, Walmsley, Scott, Hall, Johnstone, McMeeken, Hood, Nikotemo, Griffin, Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Atoni, Vagana, Pratt, Lino, Cozza, Rourke, Croft, H Smith, Myers, Faatili.

Referee: Aaron Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Saturday, 5.30pm UK.