Wakefield Trinity ready for 'long-term success' as skipper Mike McMeeken plots play-off shock v Leigh Leopards

Trinity are the post-season series’ surprise package, having been promoted to Betfred Super League from the Championship last season. Sixth place in the table was an achievement, but Dream Team front-rower McMeeken insists they aren’t ready to stop there - and expects Wakefield to get stronger as the seasons go on.

“That’s the plan,” said the Baskingstone-born powerhouse, who is likely to be part of England’s squad for the Ashes Test series against Australia which begins in a month’s time. “The challenge is to make sure you don’t rest on your laurels and you improve. That’s the aim of the club. We don’t want to achieve short-term success - we want long-term success. In 10-20 years’ time we want to be winning silverware as well. I want to be turning up to games in 20-30 years’ time thinking, ‘I was part of the team that started that’. It’s an exciting time for the club.”

McMeeken was a statement signing by Trinity when he returned to England in pre-season following four years at Catalans Dragons. After two Grand Final appearances with Catalans and having also played at Old Trafford for Castleford Tigers in 2017, outsiders might have viewed joining the promoted club as a backwards step, but McMeeken stressed: “I had confidence in Powelly and Matt [coach Daryl Powell and Trinity’s owner Matt Ellis] when they promoted the club to me.

“They told me about the direction they wanted to take the club and the part I would play in it. I obviously worked with Powelly before at Cas and knew he was the type of coach who doesn’t just take ‘nothing’ jobs. He’s a well-driven person and wants to achieve silverware. I wanted to be a part of that.”

While many pundits tipped Trinity to struggle near the foot of the table, McMeeken said the target within the club was always much more ambitious. “It’s a big achievement to finish in the top-six, but as a club, we knew we were capable of it,” he stated.

“At the beginning of the year we sat down and discussed where we’d be happy with finishing and everyone said top-six minimum. You play sport to be involved in big games and play-offs and we’ve done well to get ourselves in there.”

Leigh, who finished third, are favourites to go through to next week’s semi-finals and McMeeken added: “We're not putting any pressure on ourselves -we’ll be going out there to execute our game plan and just enjoy ourselves. We’ve had some close encounters [with Leigh] and they are a great side.

“Defensively and attack-wise, they are well switched on and regimented, so we know we’re in for a tough game. They are going in as massive favourites so there’s no pressure on us. We can go out and enjoy ourselves.”

It will be McMeeken who leads Trinity on to the field at Leigh as team captain, something he described as “a real privilege and an honour”. He added: “My job is pretty easy because the standards have always been really high, driven by players who have been here a while. We’ve just carried it on this year.”