Their destiny still remains firmly in their own hands with four games of the season remaining: but Wakefield coach Chris Chester has insisted his side cannot afford to keep relying on others to keep it that way.
With four games left, Wakefield are currently fourth and in pole position to claim the final spot in the play-offs for the first time since the Super 8s were introduced. It would also be their highest-ever finish in the Super League era.
But as they head to Salford tonight, Chester has called on his side to continue their recent good fortune and control their own destiny.
He said: “We can’t keep relying on other teams. It’s in our hands and we want to be there on our own merit.
“If we get a good result on Friday we go three points in front of St Helens or Wigan with three games to go so it’s a massive game for us.
“It looked like we’d turned a corner against Leeds and we did some good stuff against Castleford, but there was just a block in that second period where we lost our foothold in the game – but they’ve done that to every team this year. We’re not playing too badly, we’ve been pretty good in the last couple of weeks and I’m expecting a similar performance on Friday night.”
Unlike his side, Friday’s opponents Salford have struggled for form recently, and are now one of the outsiders to make the top four.
Chester, however, insists he’s expecting the very best of Ian Watson’s side this weekend – and that includes star man Ben Murdoch-Masila, who is not in the Red Devils’ initial 19-man squad.
He said: “I’m expecting Murdoch-Masila to play. Knowing Ian Watson as I do, he’s not named the team that’s in the 19-man squad before. We’re expecting him to play, we’ve planned for that.
“We had two closely-fought league games and the cup game, we seemed to make stuff up on the night and we couldn’t respond. They’re a hard team to beat on their own patch and I know they’ve lost six of their last seven, but they’re a different kettle of fish on their own patch. We’re planning for the Salford that took to the field at the start of the season.”
