Wakefield Trinity's Tyler Randell out to build on a '˜good year'

Randell joined Trinity from Newcastle Knights midway through 2017 on a two-and-a-half-year deal and, after early injury problems, has become a key member of coach Chris Chester’s squad.

“Obviously it is a big move, but the club have made us feel welcome and my wife and kids are loving it which is the main thing off the field,” he said of his switch to Betfred Super League.

“I am really happy I am here and it has been a really good year. I have got next year here, I am not too worried about what happens after that – that’s a long way off.”

With Kyle Wood missing, Randell was Trinity’s lone hooker in last week’s 25-10 defeat at Wigan Warriors.

He said: “They asked me to play as long as I can and I am pretty confident in playing the 80.

“Obviously it’s better when Woody’s playing so we can work together a bit more, but that happens in rugby sometimes and you have to do that kind of stuff with injuries and whatnot.”

Though last week’s defeat left Trinity sixth in the Super-8s, Randell insisted: “The top four is out of reach, but we don’t want to go through the Super-8s and into next year losing all these games. We want to be finishing in the best position we can and fifth is our target.”

Catalans Dragons visit Wakefield on Friday and Randell is relishing his head-to-head with Leeds-born hooker Michael McIlorum.

“I’ve watched him for a long time, even when I was back in Australia,” he said.

“He is a good, tough player and he has got Catalans firing at the moment.”

A better start will be a priority for Trinity this week. Of the defeat at Wigan, Randell reflected: “We didn’t start well, we gave them a bit of a head start and Wigan at the moment are probably the top team in the comp.

“We hung in there and gave ourselves a chance, but there were too many yardage penalties and little things like that which make it very hard to win.”