FORMER Sky Sports pundit Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson has backed Wakefield Trinity boss Mark Applegarth to be named Super League Coach of the Year – if the West Yorkshire club can stay up.
Trinity endured a miserable first half of the 2023 Super League season, rooted to the bottom of the table after failing to win any of their opening 14 games.
However, since then, Wakefield have won three of their last five games with new signings David Fifita and Luke Gale both proving their worth.
Now, Mark Applegarth’s side sit level on points with local rivals Castleford Tigers, with Stevo believing that Applegarth deserves the Super League Coach of the year gong.
Stevo was asked whether rugby league coaches are dismissed without being given a real chance and he replied: “Of course they are, they are too quick to do it. But, after about five or six games of the season, I said ‘Wakefield are gone’, I’ll admit it, but I’ll tell you something now,” Stevo said on the Eddie and Stevo podcast.
“If Wakefield do beat Castleford, and they do stay in Super League, I reckon the Wakefield coach should be named Coach of the Year, never mind how much glory or how many trophies you’ve won.
“This guy has produced something that nobody (thought was possible). I think you’ve got to be honest, even Wakefield fans would have said we’re doomed. If they survive, he should be Coach of the Year by a country mile.”
Wakefield take on Castleford this Friday night in what is being dubbed as the ‘Second Battle of Belle Vue’ after the famous fixture between the two sides in 2006 condemned the Tigers to relegation.
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