Star halfback Mason Lino says the addition of extra energy and a bit of grit has helped Wakefield win two out of three under the caretaker stewardship of his fellow Samoa international Willie Poching.
Lino says he and his teammates are enjoying playing under Poching, who stepped up from assistant coach following Chris Chester’s departure earlier this month, and are up for the challenge after coming from behind to win 25-18 at Hull KR.
“Hull KR have been playing well so it was great to come through and get the win there like we did,” said 27-year-old Lino, a close-season recruit from Newcastle Knights who started his career at New Zealand Warriors.
“We didn’t start too well. We didn’t get our contact right in that first 20 minutes. But we showed real resilience to turn that around and get a couple of tries before half-time.
“Overall, we played with a lot of desire to defend like we did. They were on our line for a fair bit, but we held them out.”
Lino, who created two of his side’s four scores, for Ryan Hampshire and Jay Pitts, added: “Willie’s not changed too much. He’s just wanting us to play with more energy and some grit. We’ve shown that and we’re starting to get results.
“He is keeping it simple and we’ve got a couple of wins now and we are looking to push on.”
Lino is contracted until 2023 and continued: “It took me a few games to get used to the style here, but I’ve slowly started to find my feet and I am enjoying it.
“We’ve got four games left now and I want to try and put some consistent performances together.”
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