DARYL POWELL lamented “fundamental errors” and admitted Wakefield Trinity are struggling at the ruck – but insists his team are “not that far away”.
Wakefield’s 27-16 defeat at Warrington Wolves was a second loss in three to start the new Super League campaign.
“I just thought we made too many fundamental errors in different positions,” said coach Powell.
“We dropped the ball at the play-the-ball, we missed touch, we gave a penalty away after putting in a smart kick. We did too much of that, and then we conceded two tries late in the first half.
“The first one, I don’t know how he (Toafofoa Sipley) gets it down. And then we concede quickly after, which was a disappointing try.
“We had no attacking position at all in the first half, and it took us until the second half to get any kind of attacking position.
“At half-time we spoke about quickening the game up. I don’t think we ever defended well enough in the game to win it.
“We were on our line for the most part – we were pretty solid there but we gave too much away.
“Defensively we were too loose. We have a big job to do to improve our defence.
“It’s a chaotic game at the minute – nobody really knows what’s going on in the ruck and we (coaches) are all trying to piece it together. It’s a different game.
“We’ve got to have more focus on winning tackles. If you look at Wigan, they are probably the standard-bearers for winning rucks and having control of the game, wherever they are on the field. It’s doable, you’ve just got to focus on it.
“We’re getting better, bit by bit. I just want us to be better defensively tonight to give us a better chance of winning the game.
“We’re not that far away, and having said all of that we were still in with a shot of winning the game until the back end.”