Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell has called for calm following his side’s 27-16 defeat to Warrington Wolves on Saturday evening.
Wakefield were gritty and hard to beat at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, but they just didn’t have enough to overcome a Warrington side that have started the season exceptionally well, with their star names performing.
Max Jowitt, Jayden Myers and Oliver Pratt all got over for tries for the Trin on the night, with all three of those coming in the second half, but they were ultimately second best. And, having lost to Toulouse Olympique in the opening round of the season, it’s fair to their start to the season hasn’t gone as they would have liked, despite beating Huddersfield Giants last week.
That’s something that Powell admits, but he won’t be overreacting.
“I think we’ve patchy and there’s some reasons for that and they’re not excuses,” Powell told Sky Sports at the Halliwell Jones. “We’re looking to get some fitness into some of the players who missed key moments in pre-season and I think we’re getting better.
“I’ve been a little bit disappointed with the start, one from three, I’d like it to be better than that. Hull is a big game for us, win that and we’re two from four, the same as we were last year.
“I’m trying to stop talking about last year because people are panicking but I think we have to settle down, the game has changed a little bit and we’re adapting like everyone else is and I thought Warrington were a little bit sharper around some of the areas that the new rules open up for teams.”
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The West Yorkshire outfit move on to Thursday night now, as they host Hull FC on the back of a short turnaround and Powell wants to see improvement.
“Obviously it was disappointing to lose but I said to the boys before the game, obviously I care about the win but I care about how we go about our work and what it looks like and feels like,” he said, “At times I thought it looked a lot better than it had done in the first two games of the season but then we made too many mistakes in the first half and ultimately, the scoreline came from the first half.
“We had some real fight to get back into the game. We got some field position in the second and we created trouble and scored points.
“It’s disappointing, there’s some areas we really need to improve but we have a team here and we keep working hard. We have a big game on Thursday at home against Hull, but some good signs tonight, some positive ones.”
