WAKEFIELD TRINITY went back to joint-top of Super League with their 52-12 victory over Bradford Bulls.
And Daryl Powell believes their next two fixtures – at St Helens next Saturday, then at Leeds Rhinos six days later – will be a true test of whether they can stay up there.
“The challenges now for us are St Helens and Leeds away from home,” said the coach.
“That will tell us a lot about us. Obviously we’ve played Leeds, and the motivation for them will be that we beat them in the Cup.
“We weren’t great against St Helens last year (losing all three games) so it’s a big challenge, they’re in a bit of form and are getting players back.
“We’ve set ourselves up for the next couple of weeks (with the Bradford win).
“We know Bradford aren’t full strength so I thought our attitude was important today. We bounced back from last week (a Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Wigan Warriors) which was a tough, emotional loss in a big game.
“Some of the stuff with the ball today was class, we scored some awesome tries, and then we know Bradford move the ball but we were pretty strong defensively for the most part.”
Tom Johnstone was a beneficiary of their good attack to the tune of four tries and Powell said: “He’s a really athletic player and he does some special things.
“Getting the ball to him in attacking areas, there was some great execution of both kicks and passes to give him those opportunities and he took them pretty well.
“With his work on kick returns and other little things like that, it was a high-level performance.”
Also impressive was fullback Josh Rourke, and Powell added: “That’s the best I’ve seen him play.
“He goes and attacks kicks and we scored a try on the back of one of those, but he got an assist with a kick which I’ve not seen too much of.
“His all-round instinctive game was really good, so I was really pleased with his performance.
“He’s made selecting that position, when Max (Jowitt) is available again, really difficult, which is what you want from players coming in.
“Both (Jowitt and Mason Lino had) niggly injuries. I intended to bring Jack (Sinfield) back into the team anyway and Mason was going to play off the bench, but he pulled out with a knee injury.
“I can’t leave any of them (halfbacks) out for too long – Truey (Jake Trueman) is nailed in one position and Jack and Mason are fighting for the other spot. I feel we’re getting the balance right at the moment.”