Chris Chester heralded the return of Tom Johnstone after the winger ended his nine-month long injury absence with a hat-trick in Wakefield’s win over Halifax.
Johnstone missed almost the entirety of last year with a serious ACL injury, but is fully fit for the start of the 2018 season.
He wasted little time finding his form in his return match, scoring a length-of-the-field effort to complete his hat-trick, and Chester shared his delight at the 22-year-old’s return.
“I’m really pleased to see Tom Johnstone back in the side,” Chester said.
“He’s an exciting young talent. He did a lot of good things defensively as well and stopped a couple of tries.
“We’re really happy to have him back in the squad.”
Johnstone’s return gives the Trinity head coach even more depth in a squad that boasts a high amount of versatility.
Chester admitted it will make team selection a difficult part of the job in 2018, but he’s not going to moan about it.
“I just said to the guys that they’re going to give me some real headaches in the next few weeks leading up to the game with Hull KR.
“That’s exciting in itself that we’ve still a lot of firepower there to come back. I always knew it would be a headache come February 2nd to pick a side. But listen, we’re not getting too carried away, but it’s a step in the right direction.
“We’re never going to keep everyone happy. 31 into 17 doesn’t go. There’s some real depth to the squad. We’re really happy with the depth of the squad and that’s probably what has got us through the last couple of years.
“We had some half decent depth the first year, some good quality second year, but I think this year is probably the best squad we’ve had in a long time.”
