Wakefield Trinity could turn to out-of-favour Wigan prop Romain Navarrete to solve their short-term forwards crisis.
Chris Chester’s side will be without a host of frontline middles for Friday’s season-opener against Hull Kingston Rovers. David Fifita is not yet ready to play, George King was injured on Boxing Day, Chris Green will definitely be missing and Tinirau Arona is also unlikely to play.
That has forced the club into a late scramble in the transfer market, and French international Navarrete is a player who has been identified as a possible target.
League Express understands a number of clubs have approached Wigan about Navarrete, with several sides keen to cover gaps in their pack following injuries in pre-season.
The Warriors are open to letting Navarrete leave on loan in search of regular rugby elsewhere, with a number of clubs trying to bring the forward in before the season starts this weekend.
“We should over the next few weeks get guys like King, Green, Arona, Fifita and (Jordan) Crowther into contention,” Chester said last week, while also confirming new signing Alex Walker could be out for a month.
“We lost young Alex to an ankle injury. We thought it would be more serious than what it was. It looked serious with the challenge, but the reports have come back positive, and he’ll only miss four to six weeks. Although we’re going through it a bit tough, we’ve just got to get on with it. We’ll have a strong team out against Hull KR.”
Meanwhile, Chester admits Wakefield are still trying to recruit a new face – and revealed they were trumped in attempts to sign Leilani Latu, the Gold Coast forward who eventually joined Warrington Wolves.
He said: “We are trying to bring someone in, and it will be a forward. We missed out on Leilani Latu, who went to Warrington, but we’ve got a budget here that we weren’t prepared to go above.”
