WAKEFIELD TRINITY were once more beaten in Super League this evening as Hull FC ran out 26-6 winners at Belle Vue.
Trinity were down 6-0 at the break and only registered a try on 68 minutes as the Black and Whites exploited a stiff Wakefield attack to make it three wins on the bounce.
For Wakefield head coach Mark Applegarth, it his 12th game without a win since taking over the reins ahead of the 2023 Super League season and he was “frustrated” but paid tribute to Hull.
“I’ve got to give credit to Hull, their defence was outstanding. How they defended their tryline at the end of the first half you could see how much it meant to them,” Applegarth said.
“It all comes down to composure. We were 6-0 down at half-time and if we had done what we had done at the back end of that first-half they would crack. Unfortunately it was us that cracked first.
“At the start of that second-half we gave away two penalties and we switched off at marker which switched the whole momentum of the game. We didn’t have that clinicalness about us and coolness in those situations.
“We were our own worst enemies tonight.”
Again Applegarth touched on his frustration.
“I wasn’t frustrated at the players, the key word was composure. The players are doing it because they are trying too hard. You need to make sure you are doing it as a team. It is the more the frustration that we haven’t got the composure yet.
“They showed up for one another and they showed up for me in that sense. Effort should be there every week in terms of what we want to be as a team. It’s frustrating.
In terms of addressing the players after another loss, Applegarth said: “The key to being a coach is knowing what to say and when to say it. I probably sound like a broken record to our fans but you have got to be brutally honest.
“If people aren’t learning their lessons then it’s up to me to remedy that via team selection.
“You’ve got to have pressure on performance in terms of competition for places but to perform well when it matters.”
Applegarth was keen to emphasise that both him and his team are learning lessons.
“I’ve got a growth mindset, there are lessons to be taken from everything in life riding high or being low like we are right now. It’s about learning your lessons and I’d like to think we are.
“It’s not me versus the team, we are all in it together. If you’d have told me that I would be at round 12 without my first win, it’s not pretty to hear but that’s the reality and you’ve got to meet it head on and pretend it’s not there.”