
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats coach Chris Chester has hit out at the scheduling decision that has forced this weekend’s game against Castleford forward by 48 hours.
The Wildcats were due to play the Tigers this Sunday in the Super 8s, but with Castleford having to play the following Thursday, the game has now been moved forward to this Friday.
And Chester told League Express that the decision, which both clubs were only informed about on Wednesday, should not be allowed.
“We found out on Wednesday, giving us essentially eight days notice,” he said. “It’s just not ideal. You think you’ve got a 14-day turnaround, so you give the players Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.
“Had we known about this sooner we’d have planned differently. I think the people who make these decisions don’t realise we actually have to prepare for a game, not just turn up.
“I know it’s not the RFL, it’s Sky, but it’s not good. We’re making things up as we go along.”
Chester was hoping to bring some of his injured stars back for the game, but says that may now not be possible.
“Scott Anderson is touch and go, while Tom Johnstone was going to see a specialist this Friday with a view to playing Sunday, so it may well rule him out,” he added.
“It’s put some people’s participation into real jeopardy. Matty Ashurst is another who may not get across the line now.
“Chris Annakin is now a few days too soon, too. We’re trying to build attendances and get people to watch this game. But how can we do that when we’re getting late changes dumped on us?
“Castleford aren’t happy and we’re certainly not happy.”
Meanwhile, Trinity chairman Michael Carter has apologised to fans after the club’s clash against Hull was moved from a Sunday to a Thursday evening for Sky – which has also impacted on their game against Catalans, too.
“We as a club, apologise for the late changes to the fixtures,” he said. “Like Castleford last week, we are completely in the hands of Sky for which games they want to show, and for the player welfare reasons, we now need to move the Catalans fixture from Sunday to Friday.”
“Once again many apologies for something that is totally out of our control.”
Away from fixture scheduling, Chester also revealed the latest on Trinity’s recruitment plans for 2017.
League Express revealed last week the club has agreed a deal with Mason Caton-Brown for 2017, and the Wildcats coach said there will be a number of changes next year.
“We’ve known for the last few weeks which players we want. There’s obviously going to be some interest surrounding the Million Pound Game and clubs like us will be looking at holding some money back and seeing what happens there.
“We’ll lose seven, I think, and we’ll try and add five or six and bring in a little more quality than what we’ve got now.”