Chester promises Wakefield have more to give as they target top-four spot

Chris Chester insists the best is yet to come from his Wakefield side as they prepare to launch an assault on the top four.

Wakefield have enjoyed a superb season as the Super 8s split approaches and are currently just one point adrift of the play-off places going into their visit to Widnes on Friday.

Trinity were rank outsiders to reach the play-offs at the start of the season, but with nine games remaining, they are competing for a chance to play in the Grand Final at the end of the year.

Ahead of their penultimate fixture before the split, Chester has challenged his players to secure a top-four spot by the end of next week, which would ensure they get an additional home game in the Super 8s competition and boost their chances of landing a play-off ticket by the end of the season.

“It would be massive for the club as well if we could achieve that as it would give us four home games in the Super 8s. It’s in our hands. We have a massive game on Friday, if we win that and Hull lose we go into fourth.

“The following week we have St Helens down here when Leeds, Hull and Salford are in the semi-final the week after, so they’ll probably have one eye on that semi-final. If we can get that win this week it’s pretty much in our own hands.”

Their first challenge comes in the shape of Widnes, who are certain to be in the Qualifiers following their 40-0 defeat to Huddersfield Giants last week.

Although Chester was quick to acknowledge the strengths of the Vikings, he also stated that Wakefield still have more improvement in them before the end of the season.

“One of the workers out there said ‘eh, Chris don’t be complacent tomorrow’. We’re not going to be, it’s a very, very hard to place to go and I don’t think we have a great record of going there the last few years. We’ve had a couple of really good results against Widnes at Magic and down here, but they’re a very different team when you play them on their own patch.

“We’ve had a couple of really good results against Widnes at Magic and down here, but they’re a very different team when you play them on their own patch.

“We’ve just got to make sure we do what we did well the last few weeks and have an aggressive mindset defensively.

“There’s certainly more to come, we’ve not strung a perfec80-minutete performance. But we’re not far away, we know that and the players know that. There’s a helluva lot of improvement left in this team and we want to give these Super 8s a big shake up.”