Wakefield Trinity will be without two of their senior spine members this week
Wakefield Trinity Head Coach Daryl Powell.(Image: sw pix)
Wakefield Trinity will be without Max Jowitt and Mason Lino this week when they take on St Helens.
Daryl Powell’s side head to Merseyside on Saturday night knowing that a win would see them retain their spot at the top of the Super League table for another week at least.
However, they remain without spine pair Jowitt and Lino, who sat out of last weekend’s one-sided win over Bradford Bulls, too.
Powell has confirmed that both men are struggling with tendon issues, but they aren’t expected to be long-term issues.
“Mason is just a slight sort of patella tendon issue. It’s not bad,” Powell said.
“Max is the same. He’s got an Achilles, so we’ve got a couple of tendons that are just causing us a little bit trouble at the moment.
“It’s nothing major or long-term, but they’re just going to keep them out for another week. They’ll be in there as options next week, I’m expecting.”
Giving an update on Isaiah Vagana’s continued absence after missing last week’s game, he added: “When he did it we were always thinking it would be after the Challenge Cup break so he won’t play next week and then we have a week off from a game perspective and I’m hoping he’ll be available then.
“He has a couple, he has a shoulder and an ankle but it’s the shoulder that is the slowest to heal. We won’t know until down the track on that one.”
Reports surfaced down under this morning suggesting Wakefield had made an offer to sign Trai Fuller from NRL club Dolphins for 2027 and beyond. The report claimed Wakefield had offered him £300,000 a year, but the deal couldn’t be done with Fuller keen to stay down under due to family reasons.
And, after being asked about it in his press conference, Powell has addressed the reports.
“We did have a chat with Trai a while back but I’m not sure that the figures are correct, but that’s by the by, we did speak to Trai,” he said.
“That was pre Roger [Tuivasa-Sheck].”