Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell makes case for defence as 100 per cent start to Betfred Championship season continues

​Wakefield Trinity may have run up a half century of points at York Knights on the back of a similar result at Doncaster, but head coach Daryl Powell believes defence has been the key as well to his team’s 100 per cent start to the Betfred Championship.
Tony Harber
By Tony Harber
Published 17th Apr 2024, 06:00 BST
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The early season pacesetters made it four wins from four with a 50-6 success at the LNER Community Stadium and scored nine tries, but Powell was just as pleased that they only conceded one.

He said: “It was a tough start, we kicked out on the full and did it again. We put ourselves under a bit of pressure, but I thought we defended really well.

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"The last two weeks we’ve conceded one try in each game from a kick so I’m pretty happy with the way we’re defending.

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Ky Rodwell scored his first try in Wakefield Trinity colours at York and has also helped toughen up the team's defence according to head coach Daryl Powell. Picture: John VictorKy Rodwell scored his first try in Wakefield Trinity colours at York and has also helped toughen up the team's defence according to head coach Daryl Powell. Picture: John Victor
Ky Rodwell scored his first try in Wakefield Trinity colours at York and has also helped toughen up the team's defence according to head coach Daryl Powell. Picture: John Victor

"York came after us, they defended more aggresively than they did last time and they shut a few things down. Our execution was a little bit off.

"They caused a little bit of trouble with how wide they were playing in good attacking positions, but I thought our right edge defended the difficutles they had really well.

“We are seeing some promising signs and we’ll only get better as we keep working on our combinations and our execution.

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“At times we look outstanding with the ball. We have some periods where we’re off – I thought we started both halves a little bit slow. But we are winning consistently.

“There’s always areas to improve and we’ll feel like that again, but we are playing some great stuff and winning games consistently, which at this stage of the season is really important for us.”

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Daryl Powell believes there is more improvement to come from his Wakefield Trini...

Powell is expecting a different challenge when he takes his Trinity team to Batley Bulldogs this Sunday.

He added: “The last two surfaces we’ve played on have been great at Doncaster and York but we go away to Batley. That’s a completely different scenario all together in the way the pitch is and the way the stadium is.

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"You have to deal with all these and we knew it was going to be a challenge. They’re all different and you’ve just got to face up to it and come out the other side with a positive outcome – which we are doing well so far.

"We’ve been away from home consistently with the problems with our ground and I think we are handling it pretty well.”

Related topics:Daryl PowellWakefield TrinityDoncasterYorkBatleyTrinityBatley Bulldogs