Wakefield not gloomy despite derby defeat

Wakefield coach Mark Applegarth insists there is no doom and gloom at his club after they went down 8-0 to Huddersfield.

Wakefield have yet to win a game this season and are bottom of Betfred Super League after three games.

Trinity were smashed 60-0 by Wigan last week, and failed to score a single point for two weeks in a row, but Applegarth claims there is no panic at the relegation favourites.

“We’re in round three and we’ve played three out of last year’s top four, it’s not panic now,” Applegarth said.

“It’s not doom and gloom by any means. There’s a lot of effort there and a lot of things we can work with.

“The effort and application is there, we just have to get a bit smarter in certain parts of the field. We have to put our attack together we showed against Catalans and our defence we showed tonight.”

The first half ended scoreless as neither side was able to crack open the other’s defence.

Joe Greenwood struck in the second half with a powerful run and Tui Lolohea nailed two goals in a tight contest to hand Huddersfield its first win.

Trinity defended brilliantly but offered little in attack over the 80 minutes.

“The effort’s there,” Applegarth said.

“We asked for a response this week we got it. But Huddersfield stuck to their game plan and strangled us. We lacked a bit of final composure.

“But congrats to Huddersfield, we just lost to a better team on the night. The effort and application, I can’t fault our lads.

“Today everyone was there. It was a really intense game.”

Wakefield lost winger Lewis Murphy to a knee injury in the first half and he did not return.

Applegarth admits he is unsure how bad the injury is, but expects Murphy to miss the Leeds game next week.

“We don’t know, we’ll scan him,” he said.

“It was a contest in the air. I don’t think he’ll be available for next week. It’s something to do with his knee. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”

Applegarth said there was no issues with the Belle Vue pitch after the game, following concerns about its safety during the week.

“The two weeks off has done its job,” he said.

“It’s getting quite a lot of treatment behind the scenes. I didn’t hear any complaints from either side.”

Huddersfield coach Ian Watson was relieved after his team earned their first win of the season.

Giants lost to Warrington in their season opener at the John Smith’s Stadium last Friday, but bounced back with a hard-fought result at Trinity.

“It’s good to get off the mark,” Watson admitted.

“It was a tough and well-earned one. We knew they were going to turn up today and play for the pride.

“For them, they’ve got something to work on and for us it was the nil and our defence.

“It was a really good arm-wrestle mentality in there. To keep teams in Super League to nil is a big ask.

“I didn’t feel like we were being overstretched.”

The Giants’ attack misfired at times and struggled to break down Wakefield’s strong defence.

But Watson was not concerned, with full-back Jake Connor still to return from injury and halves Will Pryce and Theo Fages still working on their combination.

“You are going to be clunky at the start of the season,” he said.

“There’s little things to work on. It all takes time to gel.”

Watson had no complaints about the controversial Be Well Support Stadium artificial pitch, which has come in for criticism from Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara.

The match was only confirmed to be on on Wednesday after a late pitch inspection.

“No, because we train and play on it (artificial turf) we’re a bit battle-hardened,” he said.

“Everyone looks pretty good.”

Huddersfield left new signing Kevin Naiqama out of his starting line-up, giving Jake Bibby his club debut.

A groin injury ruled Naiqama out but Watson expects the centre to be fit to face Castleford next week.

“It’s early in the season, he’ll be OK,” he said. “We didn’t want to push him.”

Published: 03/03/2023 by Radio NewsHub