Wakefield Trinity sweat on key duo for relegation battle after injuries in Salford Red Devils defeat

Wakefield Trinity suffered a double injury blow in their 20-0 defeat at Salford Red Devils on Friday night, head coach Mark Applegarth confirmed.

Centre Reece Lyne and full-back Max Jowitt left the action early at the Salford Stadium as Trinity were nilled for the sixth time this season.

“Reece Lyne has done his hamstring,” Applegarth said in his post-match press conference. “We’ll have to find out how long that is.

“Liam Hood passed his head injury test and Max Jowitt is limping about a bit. We’ll have to see how that settles down in the next few days.”

Wakefield will be hoping for the best news possible on Lyne and Jowitt, with four games left against St Helens, Catalans, Leigh and Hull KR as they try to secure their Super League status for 2024.

‘There’s going to have to be changes next week’ – Mark Applegarth calls Wakefield Trinity response

Their 20-0 defeat at Salford sees Trinity become just the third top flight team in the limited tackle era to be nilled six times or more in a season, as per Rugby League Records.

And with Super League champions St Helens visiting Belle Vue next week, coach Applegarth knows they need to be much better.

Speaking in his post-match press conference at Salford, Applegarth said: “It was a lesson in how to implode in a game of rugby league. At half-time we spoke about the need for composure because we had been erratic.

“But we did the complete opposite and came up with 18 unforced errors – and I don’t think Salford played particularly well.”

Applegarth praised some of his side’s defensive efforts but insists they need to cut out making unforced errors.

He added: “Some of the lads put in unbelievable defensive efforts.

“Salford’s tries were pretty soft but we came up with that many unforced errors… we can’t keep on saying this. We are running out of time and we need to sort it out. We have some honest conversations to have about it this week.

“Some of those errors tonight I wouldn’t expect from an academy team, let alone a Super League team. There’s going to have to be changes next week.

“There’s no point shying away from how you feel after a tough loss like that. I hope people are hurting in our dressing room because it shows how much it means to them. We need to dust ourselves off and get ready for St Helens next week.

“I have said all along that I will never question the lads’ fight and attitude to play for the club and we still showed that tonight. The defensive resilience is exactly what we need to base our game on. As a team we can’t afford individual mistakes.”

Next up for Wakefield is a home game against St Helens at Belle Vue next Sunday, 3pm kick-off.

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