Wakefield Trinity's bounce back plan at Warrington Wolves after St Helens inflict 'shock to system'
Wakefield Trinity are determined to put a tough lesson to good use away to Warrington Wolves on Sunday.
Trinity have lost successive home games to Hull KR and St Helens following their round one win at Leeds Rhinos.
The 26-6 defeat by Saints was a “shock” to the system, according to assistant-coach Michael Shenton.
He said: “The first two games, we were really competitive. We were super-happy with the result at Leeds, we had a couple of injuries going into Hull KR and put a really tough, gritty performance in.
“The spirit we showed was class and I think we showed a lot of that last weekend, but Saints did a good job of shutting us down and we couldn’t adapt to that.
“We weren’t on it mentally like we were against Leeds and Hull KR, so it was a massive lesson in game management and consistency and what Super League is going to take week-in and week-out. As a new team into Super League, that’s going to happen - we’ve just got to bounce back and improve in those areas this week.”
Warrington have travelled back from Las Vegas, where they were hammered 48-24 by Wigan Warriors last week, but Shenton insisted: “After the Saints performance, we’ve just been looking at ourselves. We’ve done a bit of homework on Warrington and we’ve got to be steeled and ready for the best Warrington that’s going to turn up.
“We know the challenge in front of us, but confidence is growing all the time. Setbacks are part of that, but as long as we learn from that St Helens performance, I think we’ll be okay this year. Part of the journey is going to a place like Warrington. We are learning every week and I think we’ll do that all year.”
Trinity coach Daryl Powell has made two changes to the squad named to face St Helens with Matthieu Cozza and Jayden Myers replacing injured duo Thomas Doyle and Josh Rourke.
Warrington Wolves: from Crowther, Currie, Dufty, Fitzgibbon, Harrison, Holroyd, Johnson, Leyland, Lindop, Musgrove, Philbin, Powell, Ratchford, D Russell, Tai, Taylor-Wray, Thewlis, Vaughan, Walker, Williams, Yates.
Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Walmsley, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, O Russell, McMeeken, Hood, Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Atoni, Storton, Vagana, Pratt, Lino, Cozza, Russell, Croft, Smith, Myers, Faatili.
Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes). Kick-off: Sunday, 1pm.