WAKEFIELD TRINITY head coach Daryl Powell has admitted he is bemused by the “bizarre” 1895 Cup competition schedule.
Trinity’s season starts away at York Knights on February 4, with Wakefield amongst those 22 clubs from the Championship and League One to enter the third round of the Challenge Cup over the weekend of 10/11 February.
Wakefield will then go up against a Newcastle Thunder side yet to formalise their squad for 2024 on February 18 before Trinity’s Championship campaign kicks off on March 15.
For Powell, it is a confusing time to be a head coach.
“I don’t quite understand it, it’s bizarre really. From the start until the middle of March you alternate between the Challenge Cup and the 1895 Cup,” Powell said.
“It’s a bit crazy because we could play an amateur team in the Challenge Cup, York, then Newcastle and we don’t know what team they will put out. We don’t know which team we will play then: we could a play a League One side or a top-end Championship one.
“It’s quite hard to plan. We look at our scheduling and we can only plan up to York because we don’t know when or who we will play.”
Powell admits that Trinity have a target on their back following some big off-season signings as well as the club’s intention to stay full-time.
“We will focus on ourselves a hell of a lot this year. There are some big challenges in this competition but ultimately we have to control what we can control,” Powell continued.
“We have a quality group of players and we need to make sure we are where we need to be. Everyone is saying we have a target on our back and we obviously will have. But we can’t do anything about what people say.”
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