DARYL POWELL was left in despair at Wakefield Trinity’s biggest defeat of the season.
Wakefield were thrashed 4-34 by St Helens in a significant blow to their hopes of reaching the Super League play-offs.
“We were poor from start to finish,” admitted head coach Powell.
”I sent a message on at one point saying ‘just go and introduce the boys to each other’. It looked like we’d just got together.
“We’d had a good week of training, but the pressure that Saints put you under is intense and I just don’t think we handled it at all.
“We got belted to be honest. The start probably summed it up. It’s a walk-in try (for us) and Pittsy (Jay Pitts) doesn’t play the ball properly, then in the next set they roll us and score.
“Saints have been too good for us all year. They’ve beaten us three times and been deserved winners three times.
“I don’t think we’ve handled how hard they’ve come at us. They’re probably the toughest team in the comp, although Hull KR would argue that. Defensively they’ve been impeccable in recent weeks and conceded very little.”
Powell admitted his side still would have lost if Saints forward George Delaney was sent off in the first half for a high tackle on Lachlan Walmsley, instead of receiving only a yellow card.
“They’ve talked about negligible force. It’s an interesting one,” he said with a wry laugh.
”It’s a direct shoulder to the head. What does that constitute? What is the mitigation? If negligible force is the mitigation, it’s kind of an awkward one to understand.
“I don’t want to see players leaving the field, and Saints deserved to win tonight, that was obvious for everyone to see.”
Wakefield lost centre Corey Hall in the closing stages to a foot injury and Powell said: “It didn’t look great. He’ll have a scan.”