Super League: 12th (P27 W4 L23 F303 A742 PD-439 Pts8); Challenge Cup: Round 6
THE HOPE
With a rookie coach in Mark Applegarth and a weakened squad shorn of many experienced heads, it was always going to be a season of struggle for Wakefield.
But Super League’s ultimate survival specialists could surely pull it off again, right?
THE REALITY
This season was the ultimate reality check for a club that has lived on the cliff edge for too long and finally fell off it.
That it happened in the year in which they began to make real long-term change off the field, with the construction of a new main stand and a deal agreed for new ownership, is a bitter irony.
Ultimately Wakefield never had the resources to throw at a survival bid. They signed only four players ahead of the campaign, despite losing more than double that number, including Tom Johnstone, James Batchelor, Jacob Miller and David Fifita.
That left them playing catch-up as a truly dire run of 15 consecutive defeats, including five where they were nilled, exposed just how far behind the rest of Super League they really were.
Trinity belatedly boosted their squad, first with a clutch of desperate loan signings, and then finally with some solid recruits like Will Dagger, Luke Gale and returning favourite Fifita.
Once those figures settled in, they finally resembled a coherent side, and a run of four successive home wins briefly gave them genuine hope of survival.
But a defeat to relegation rivals Castleford proved costly. The writing was on the wall from that moment, as Wakefield finished with seven losses on the spin and must now prepare for a first season outside Super League since 1998.
BEST PLAYERS
Matty Ashurst was appointed Wakefield captain ahead of the season and was once again one of their leading lights.
The backrower played every single league game and will celebrate a well-deserved testimonial year in 2024.
Equally industrious, if not even more so, was loose forward Jay Pitts, who went one better than Ashurst by also featuring in their one Challenge Cup match to be an ever-present.
Pitts made 954 tackles over the season, and Ashurst 892, putting both among the top six players in Super League in that category.
Outside the pack, the greatest flash of inspiration as Wakefield attempted to claw their way out of danger came from Will Dagger.
Signed in the spring from Hull KR, in a swap deal with Corey Hall, Dagger was given a baptism of fire at fullback but proved a revelation when moved to stand-off, where he starred in three of their four wins of the year.
HIGHLIGHT
It wasn’t their best win – in fact it was probably the worst of their four – but Wakefield’s home defeat of Leeds in June finally got them on the board at the 16th attempt.
The relief was palpable as they held on for a 24-14 win, despite the dismissal of French triallist Hugo Salabio on debut for an awful tackle on Richie Myler.
Another recruit from the south of France, Romain Franco, contributed better on his Trinity bow with a try, while there were also scores by Jack Croft, Matty Ashurst and Morgan Smith.
LOWLIGHT
It was do-or-die in August when Wakefield hosted Castleford at a sold-out Belle Vue, with the sides level on points in the Super League table.
By the end of the night, the Tigers were clear of their rivals and course for survival, while Trinity never recovered from the blow.
Josh Griffin scored twice on his third debut for Wakefield – after a long wait to finish serving a seven-match ban – but it was not enough to prevent a 28-12 defeat, which was sealed by a Greg Eden hat-trick.
IN QUOTES
“I don’t know anything about him.” Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin wasn’t particularly excited by Wakefield’s appointment of Mark Applegarth as head coach.
“Mash (Applegarth) sent me a message saying we’ve got a few injuries and there’s a place in our team if I’d come. I said ‘not really mate, I’ve just got a new life!’ He said we needed a leader like myself, that I know how to get the boys hyped up before a game, those sorts of things. I could hear the passion in his voice. I was like ‘I’ll talk to my wife and see how that goes – you don’t have to win me over, it’s my wife you have to win over!’. But she said ‘if you’re up for the challenge, just do it’.” David Fifita on why he returned to Wakefield.
“Ultimately I failed in that we’ve been relegated. That stings personally and professionally and hurts more being a Wakefield lad. The buck stops with me and that’s part of the responsibility of being a head coach and it’s something you live with for the rest of your life.” Mark Applegarth reflecting on Wakefield’s relegation.
IN NUMBERS
6 – Times Wakefield were nilled in 2023 – no side has failed to register in more games in a single top-flight season since the introduction of multiple leagues.
26 – Rounds out of 27 that Wakefield finished sitting at the foot of the Super League table (Leeds were bottom after round one).
4 – Loan spells at the club for Innes Senior, with two this season adding to previous stints in 2020 and 2021 for the Huddersfield winger.
PICTURE OF THE SEASON
Lee Kershaw in tears after Wakefield’s relegation was confirmed by a golden-point defeat at Leigh in their penultimate game (top).
