Wakefield head coach Richard Agar believes his squad is still adjusting to life with each other, as their late recruits begin to settle into life in West Yorkshire.
The Wildcats have brought in the likes of Nick Scruton and Jarrod Sammut since the season began, and fellow recruit Harry Siejka only landed in the country earlier this month. Agar admits that he is still trying to piece combinations and structures together, and believes they are still a few weeks behind everyone else.
Last week Harry Siejka was the latest player to debut for the Wildcats, when he came off the bench against St Helens, a position he retained against the Robins.
When asked if he felt his squad was still behind the rest, Agar said: “I suppose so.
“I still think we’re deciding what our best combinations are yet; we need to see our players play. Harry has been thrown in the mix already, but he’s only played a little bit of rugby.
“We’ve got an embryonic halves partnership; and for us at the moment it’s just about finding out what works best and getting the guys to understand what we want.”
Agar admits that it will take longer for his squad to peak, claiming it will take time for the creative fulcrum of his side to fully adjust to life in a Wakefield shirt.
“I feel like we’re getting there, but structures need to be developed and understood; the cohesion between the guys, and getting into situations in games that they need to recognise is what we’ll learn. When you’re talking about the blokes that are piloting your ship, they’ve got a few more buttons to press than a frontrower, for example, and that will take time.”
Agar recently vented his frustration at being unable to get his fringe players more game time. But in the last week he has seen Matty Wildie and Kyle Trout head to Doncaster and Batley respectively on loan.
“I’m really pleased to get the lads some football. Matty is a super young kid, but he’s really suffered from not being able to play enough over the last two years. For a young lad who’s had only ten games under his belt in two years, that really isn’t enough.”
Agar also cleared the air on Steve Ganson’s decision to talk to referee Tim Roby at half-time during the Wildcats’ defeat against St Helens, claiming that he was not questioning Ganson’s role, or Ganson in general, after comments he made to the media after the match were ‘misconstrued’.
“It wasn’t aimed at Steve directly, and it wasn’t an attack on his integrity. I was questioning procedure and protocol, and the answers I got led to me questioning elements of consistency.
“I certainly wasn’t questioning Steve or his role during that weekend. I thought there was some unnecessary reporting of it that misconstrued what was a non-story.”
