WAKEFIELD TRINITY went down 34-6 against Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium tonight.
It wasn’t the result that Trinity would have been looking for following three wins in four games.
And it’s fair to say that Wakefield head coach Mark Applegarth was disappointed with his side’s performance.
“I’m disappointed, I thought we got outplayed from minute one. I thought we were flat, and we have spoken about it hopefully being a refocus for us,” Applegarth said.
“I don’t know if we’ve fallen in love with ourselves and forgot about what got us the wins in the first place.
“I thought Huddersfield outplayed us from the first minute, it’s important we learn some lessons from that. It hurts, we thought we were going to play a lot better than that tonight.
“I’m disappointed and there are disappointed bodies in there but it’s important that we stick together. We’ve not shown up tonight.
“I thought we struggled to get out of our own half all game whether it’s through their defence or us not running with purpose. We didn’t move the ball around as clinical as we have been.
“I thought Huddersfield were outstanding, I thought they played a 9/10 or 10/10 and we were nowhere near that. They dominated field position.
“It is a step backwards but as I said, you can’t afford to get too high or too low. You have got to learn lessons and refocus and you can’t afford to dwell on these things.”
Applegarth also has two potential injury blows as he explains Jai Whitbread’s absence.
“Jai got a minor quad strain on the team run so he should be alright for Warrington.
“Will Dagger failed his HIA but luckily we’ve got next week and he will be alright for the Warrington game. Liam Hood has taken a bit of a blow on his shoulder so we will get that looked at.”
With Wakefield losing ground on Castleford, the Tigers will be playing their own relegation battle away at Hull FC tomorrow. But Applegarth will not be watching as he hints at selection changes for Trinity’s clash against Warrington Wolves in a fortnight’s time.
“It’s pointless you put yourself through turmoil for 80 minutes. I hate the fact hat we’ve got rely on somebody else to slip up. We’ve got to focus on ourselves. There are 16 points to play for.
“We can’t afford not to pick ourselves up, we will have a honest review and look at where we have gone wrong. There may be a few selection changes which we would expect after a loss.
“Everyone feels like they’ve let themselves down. We had a big travelling support and we didn’t show up for them so we need to repay them.
“It was amazing support. To say how the season has been they have showed up every week and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Whitbread and Luke Gale could well be back for that fixture against Warrington.