Wakefield Trinity: We are still targeting the top four insists forward England
England spent two seasons at Warrington before joining Trinity last year and is under no illusions about the importance of this evening’s showdown.
Trinity need a win to maintain their hopes of a top-four finish while defeat would edge Warrington closer to a place in the Qualifiers and a relegation battle over the final third of the season.
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Hide Ad“It’s a big game,” England said. “Obviously we are coming off the back of a couple of losses and we need to start putting things right.
“All the boys want to do a job on Saturday, but we’re not far off; a few little tweaks here and there and we’ll be back to winning ways.”
Trinity recorded seven straight wins before their current three-match losing run.
“There’s not one thing I can put my finger on,” England said of the change in fortunes. “It has been quite an exhausting season, but that’s the same for all teams – especially with the double weekends.
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Hide Ad“I think that has taken quite a lot out of a few teams, but hopefully we can start getting back to our best now.”
Trinity showed what they are capable of for an hour at Hull last week, leading 18-10 before a sudden collapse led to a 40-18 defeat.
“We should have won the game,” England insisted. “All credit to Hull, who never gave in, but we let a couple of sloppy tries in which was not really characteristic of Wakefield.
“We had a bit of a rollicking in our review and hopefully this week we can right a few wrongs and come away with the win.”
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Hide AdWarrington’s fall from grace, after topping the table last year, has been this season’s big shock.
But England warned: “They are still a team with a lot of strike. They have good players across the board and we aren’t going into it with any complacency.
“We want to get into the top-four, that’s a big focus.”
On-loan forward Dean Hadley will return for Trinity today after being ineligible to face his parent club last week.
Mikey Sio and Jordan Crowther are in contention for a call-up, but James Batchelor drops out after picking up an injury at Hull.
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Hide AdWarrington could give a debut to new signing Peta Hiku and Stefan Ratchford is available after suspension, but Joe Westerman misses out due to a hip injury
England had a disrupted start to the season, but feels he is now finding his feet.
“I had a few niggles,” he recalled.
“I had to have a foot operation quite early in the season and that set me back a bit, but I am really enjoying the season so far.
“It’s a great set of lads – probably the best I’ve played with and the recruitment [coach] Chris Chester has done has been brilliant.”
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Hide AdWakefield Trinity: from Annakin, Arona, Arundel, Ashurst, Caton-Brown, Crowther, England, Finn, Grix, Hadley, Hirst, Huby, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Sio, Tupou, Walker, Williams, Wood.
Warrington Wolves: from Atkins, Clark, Cooper, Dagger, Dwyer, Gidley, Hiku, Hill, Hughes, Johnson, Jullien, G King, Patton, Penny, Philbin, Ratchford, Savelio, Sims, Wilde.
Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham).
Kick-off: Today, 6.30pm.