DARYL POWELL hailed his “phenomenal” Wakefield Trinity side after they produced a performance for the ages to inflict a 16-10 defeat on Wigan Warriors on Friday night.
Trinity were tremendous throughout, and, after leading 10-0 at the break, held out the reigning Super League champions.
And it’s fair to say that Wakefield head coach Daryl Powell was impressed with the performance and result: “It was a phenomenal effort on both sides of the ball. Every player, the way they executed what they wanted to do.
“We haven’t spoken about it, but it’s a five-day turnaround which is mental that the boys have got the energy.
“We didn’t have that much time to put a game plan in place. We had one session and rolled through what we wanted to do.
“I thought we handled the physicality really well right from the start. They had a big bench and we had a middle, a back-rower, a centre and a hooker on ours.
“I thought we were good on Bevan French and Jai Field tonight.”
Powell also held praise for Caius Faatili who scored again and caused Wigan problems all night.
He said: “He’s a proper player, the way he carries the ball, he is awkward and he has the eye for a try. He uses the ball really well.”
The Wakefield boss believes that his side can get better with long-term absentees set to return.
“If a couple of those close losses (we’ve had) swing the other way then we would be further up the table,” said Powell.
“I’m confident we will be in a great place as we roll through the season and get those long-term absentees back.
“One game can define you a little bit and this game might on a confidence level, and if it does that then it will be great but you’ve got to be consistent.
“We’ve got Hull KR next week, we will go there with confidence.”
Powell also explained why captain Mike McMeeken didn’t play.
“Mike McMeeken has torn his pec, it’s not a big one but it will be a couple of weeks,” he said.