DARYL POWELL reckons his “super consistent” Wakefield Trinity are ready to take the next step in the play-offs.
Wakefield clinched fourth spot in the table – their highest ever Super League regular-season placing – with Friday’s 19-8 win at Leigh Leopards.
That means they’ll now host Leigh, who finished fifth, this Friday as the DIY Kitchens Stadium stages top-flight play-off rugby for the first time since 2009.
The last occasion ended in a 25-16 eliminator defeat to Catalans Dragons, leaving a 28-18 win at Hull FC five years earlier as their only Super League play-off win (they then lost at Wigan Warriors, a potential semi-final opponent this time).
To reach the last four, they’ll need to overcome the demons of last season, when they lost at this stage away to Leigh, 26-10.
“We have that under our belt of what it felt like last season when we got to the end, and I think that experience is great,” said coach Powell, who led Wakefield to victory in the Championship play-off two years ago.
“It’s the knowledge of where we’re at, what we can do, how tough it is at this back end of the season when teams are fighting to have a crack at winning the competition.
“I think we’ve been a bit more consistent than last year. We’re in a good place mentally, and a good place physically.”
Trinity have won 19 of 27 games including their last three, although Powell added: “We lost two from three at the start of the season and everyone said Wakefield would drop off.
“We’ve just talked about us gradually improving and being consistent. There’s some games we’ve been disappointed with, but I think we’ve been super consistent.
“Now it’s about taking it to another level, mentally and physically. We’ve got to be fantastic, but we’ve got a lot of knowledge from what happened to us last year. That’s all motivation.”