Wakefield Trinity will welcome back winger Ben Jones-Bishop for Sunday’s game against Salford – but coach Chris Chester has admitted it will be tough to decide whether to leave out Mason Caton-Brown at his expense.
Caton-Brown has waited in the wings for his opportunity in the opening weeks of the new Super League season, before being handed his debut last Friday at St Helens, scoring a remarkable try in their 16-12 win at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
And Chester – who will welcome back a number of big names into his 19-man squad for the game against the Red Devils – said it will be a hard call to make on whether Caton-Brown stays in the side.
“Mason has made it very difficult for me this week but it’s a really nice headache to have,” Chester told TotalRL.
“He took his try very well, there were a couple of issues defensively but we’ve worked on them during the week. One thing he does have is genuine pace and there’s not many people who could have scored that try. What he did with the ball was very good.”
Chester has plenty of options at his disposal as he looks to make it back-to-back wins – but one man who is likely to miss out is captain Danny Kirmond.
“We’ll give Danny Kirmond a rest because he got a couple of bangs against St Helens and he’s got a nasty cut around his knee which keeps opening up, so it gives an opportunity for Dean Hadley to make his Wakefield debut,” he said.
“But Mitch Allgood comes into the 19-man squad this week, as does Anthony England, who had a glute problem which kept him out.
“Young James Batchelor will keep his spot in the 17 too I think. It’s a nice selection headache to have; there’s (Craig) Huby, England, (Anthony) Walker, (David) Fifita, Allgood and more in there and two of them will miss out – but we’ll make that call Saturday.”
Wakefield have not won at home since midway through last season – a run of form Chester is keen to see end as quickly as possible.
“We’ve not won here for a long time – and I guess we’ve not played here for a while,” he said.
“But it’s a big game and it’s one we want to win. If you win the majority of your home games you give yourself a great shot of getting in the top eight and we need to start chalking up some wins at home. There’s a great opportunity in front of us against Salford.”
All the talk concerning Salford is whether half-back Todd Carney will make his debut: and Chester admitted he’s not sure what Ian Watson will do.
He said: “I don’t know if Todd Carney will play. If it was me I’d keep the side I had because it would be difficult to change a winning side.
“Whether they swap Dobbo (Michael Dobson) to nine, I’m not so sure. We’ll find out Sunday afternoon. I’m not really bothered about what side they put out though.”
