Mason Lino has praised Willie Poching for his impact at Wakefield Trinity but believes the team still have a way to go to reach his aim of competing for the play-offs.
After a positive end to last season, Lino’s first at the club, when Poching stepped up being assistant coach to lead the team, Trinity won four games on the bounce to end a tricky start to this year with Lino a standout performer.
Consecutive defeats to Wigan Warriors in the Challenge Cup and Castleford Tigers in Super League have dampened the optimism but also shown what needs to be put right to make a serious challenge, starting today (Monday) with a quick Wigan reunion.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, we want to be consistent to be a top-four or top-six team,” said Lino.
“We can be a bit more resilient too on our line; we leak a few tries.”
Halfback Lino says that Poching’s impact on the team in pre-season was evident even to him, despite being separated for much of it because of the calf injury that also saw him miss the first three rounds of the year.
“He’s got the boys going and brought us together really well,” Lino said of his coach.
“The boys had a good pre-season – I wasn’t part of it as much but looking from an outside perspective, it looked like they enjoyed their time and they’re really enjoying each other’s company.”
But Wakefield isn’t the only team he hopes to be playing for this year – Lino is a Samoan international and the World Cup beckons, including a role in the tournament’s opening match against England.
He said: “If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll definitely put my hand up. I’ve just got to keep playing some good footy and see where it goes.”
Poching has vowed to make changes for Wakefield’s trip to Wigan today after two comfortable defeats: “We have some people waiting in the wings and there will be some changes for Monday,” he said.
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