Apart from a brief flirtation with the playoffs in 2009 and one other 5th placed finish Wakefield Trinity have consistently fulfilled the low expectations placed upon them during the Super League era. They go into this season with similar predictions of doom following them.
Relegation should be back on the table in 2021 which has sparked the annual discussion about whether this will be the year that Trinity finally disappear from the Super League scene. Theirs seems to be the first name that comes up when the dark mutterings start about ‘an M62 sport’ and clubs who ‘offer nothing’.
Yet Trinity - under five-year coach Chris Chester - would relish defying their detractors again. One thing they ‘offered’ Super League in 2020 is that they managed to complete more league games (19) than any of the other top flight clubs. That despite several Covid outbreaks at the club, one of which prompted Chester to suggest locking down the club for five days in September.
That was in the midst of a 10-game losing streak which eventually saw Wakefield finish 10th of 11 clubs after Toronto’s withdrawal, winning just five and suffering 14 defeats during the regular season. If any club had a reason to swerve the odd fixture it is Wakefield, so it is to their credit that they kept plugging away and fulfilling their fixtures. There were signs of hope in narrow defeats to Hull FC (26-27 & 23-26), Wigan (22-23) and Saints (16-20). They had beaten Warrington 18-8 before Covid completely altered the landscape. But largely it was a disappointing, dispiriting, Covid-ridden campaign for the men from Belle Vue.
The recruitment for 2021 has been minimal, heightening the doubters’ suspicions that Trinity might finally exit the stage. Halfback Mason Lino is the headline act in terms of new signings. The 27 year-old joins from Newcastle Knights in the NRL, where he has made 17 appearances since making the same number for New Zealand Warriors between 2015-18. Lino replaces the veteran Danny Brough whose final season with Trinity before joining Bradford Bulls was wrecked by injury.
Outside of Lino there is only the retention of two players who had already spent time on loan at Wakefield in 2020. Innes Senior is one of Huddersfield’s crop of exciting young backs and he extends the loan deal that saw him score four tries in seven appearances last term. Up front is Eddie Battye, a skilful prop-forward who played eight times on loan to Wakefield from London Broncos last term. Battye now has a three-year deal with Trinity and will add great experience. Aside from the Broncos with whom he has played in Super League Battye has also had two spells with Sheffield Eagles and spent time in France with Villeneuve Leopards.
The list of those heading out of Belle Vue is a little longer. As well as Brough stalwart forwards Danny Kirmond and Craig Kopczak have moved on to York City Knights and Featherstone Rovers respectively, while Romain Navarette’s loan spell from Wigan has come to an end. In the back division both winger Ben Jones-Bishop and fullback or stand-off Tony Gigot were released. If there are no more moves in the transfer market from Chester before the season kicks off next weekend then the squad might seem a little threadbare.
But let’s stick to the positives. After all, Wakefield haven’t managed to hang around in the big league since 1998 by being negative. In winger Tom Johnstone and back rower Kelepi Tanginoa Wakefield have two outstanding talents who would improve any other Super League club. Jacob Miller is a clever operator in the halves so hopes should be high that his link-up with Lino will be productive. If the pair can fire the bullets then the three-quarter line features not only Johnstone but the speedy Reece Lyne and the rather more direct but no less effective Bill Tupou. Lyne was good enough for an England call-up for the international with France in 2018 and was in the 9s squad which competed in the World Cup a year later.
Along with Tanginoa the pack is led by David Fifita, a man with both an interesting hairstyle and a superior namesake trotting around for Gold Coast Titans in the NRL. The Wakefield Fifita can light up games but is very much a mood player. He spent much of last season out of favour after refusing to wear his GPS tracker which was part of the Super League’s track and trace protocols. Getting a tune out of him would be a massive boost but is among Chester’s trickiest challenges.
The Woods, Josh and Kyle, should share the hooking duties while Tinirau Arona is another versatile and useful forward. Matty Ashurst is a consistent performer who - while deemed not quite good enough for Saints in his youth - has been one of Wakefield’s more reliable players since arriving in 2014 after three seasons at Salford. Yet there have to be question marks over Wakefield’s depth in the pack compared with some of the other sides in Super League. This is a side with plenty of pace and strike but not one you’d fancy to be able to impose its will in the forward battle long enough to be able to utilise that speed.
It’s a big year then for Chester. Five years is a long time for players to listen to the same voice in the dressing room, especially if it is a period of struggle. A good start will help, but will be difficult when you consider the fixture list. They start with a meeting with Leeds Rhinos at Headingley in Round 1, which is arguably the easy bit with games against Wigan and Saints to follow in the next two. Round 4 sees Hull FC host Trinity before April ends with a visit from Catalans Dragons.
If Trinity are in a relegation battle then perhaps the final five fixtures will be of even greater importance. A trip to Hull KR starts the run-in on the weekend of 26-27 August before September starts with a visit from the Rhinos. Trips to Huddersfield and Leigh follow before the regular season ends with a home clash with Hull FC.
There are more likely relegation candidates than Wakefield. Leigh’s off-the-field elevation to Super League has seen them installed as most people’s favourites while Hull KR have had another off-season off large scale change which looks unconvincing. Yet simply avoiding the drop is probably not success for Trinity and should not be their target. Publicly it won’t be, but it is hard to make a case for Chester’s side troubling the playoff schedulers come September.
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