Chris Chester: Wakefield will now put big focus on making top five

Drew Darbyshire 01 Jun 2019 8:02 PM

Chris Chester says Wakefield need to forget about their Challenge Cup exit quickly and turn all of their attention on cementing a spot in the Super League play-offs.

Trinity crashed out of the Challenge Cup on Saturday afternoon after losing 48-10 against St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

Wakefield are currently sixth in the Super League table and Chester now wants them to focus on making the top five come the end of the regular campaign.

Speaking after their loss at St Helens, Chester said: “Going out of the Cup just means we can refocus on what we want to achieve.

“We talked in pre-season about getting involved in a semi-final or final this year, so the Challenge Cup is out of the way now and the big focus now is making sure we get in the top five this year.

“We certainly have the squad capable of doing so, but we need to get some bodies back. I’m taking nothing away from Saints, they were very good.

“I don’t think we would have beaten them even if we had our best side out there but we could have caused them a few more problems. They are the best team in the competition by a long way at the moment and they are going to take some stopping.”

Chester revealed that centre pairing Bill Tupou and Joe Arundel could return from injury to face Salford in two weeks time.

He added: “We are hopeful that Bill Tupou and Joe Arundel will be back within the next two weeks and Junior Sa’u will be back next week against Leeds.

“Where do we put Junior though after Jack Croft’s unbelievable performance on the left edge? There is a bit of food for thought in regards to that position.

“Kirmo [Danny Kirmond] is concussed and that puts him out of next week. We’ve picked up another couple of minor injuries to Matty Ashurst [back] and Tyler Randell [ankle] as well.

“I think we’ve unearthed a young kid in Jack Croft who didn’t look out of place in the left centre. He scored our first try and got away from [Kevin] Naiqama in the first ball set, so there are positives to take from that game.”