Column: Wakefield showing strong signs and Salford’s first win will soon come
Wakefield Trinity shown glimpses of how good they can be this year on Friday night while Salford Red Devils’ first win of 2018 isn’t too far away.
Chris Chester’s Trinity outfit narrowly beat Ian Watson’s Red Devils 14-12 at The Mobile Rocket Stadium on Friday night and there was a nail-biting finish.
Salford actually scored three tries while Wakefield only scored two, but it was goal-kicking that was the difference.
Liam Finn converted both of Wakefield’s tries as well as adding a penalty goal in the first half while Gareth O’Brien failed to convert Salford’s tries from Robert Lui, Niall Evalds and Kris Welham.
Trinity were the slightly better team overall though. Their forward pack looks really impressive so far this year, with the likes of Keegan Hirst, James Batchelor and Jordan Baldwinson missing out on a place in their squad against Salford.
Ever since Great Britain legend Gary Schofield ripped into David Fifita last season, Fifita has gone on to excel and to be honest, I was slightly surprised to see him not involved with his brother Andrew in the Tonga squad at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. He would probably get into any Super League side at the minute.
Another exciting player to look out for this year is Pauli Pauli. He didn’t play to his full potential against Salford but was solid. Once he gets a few games under his belt, he could be a huge success in Super League.
A last note on Trinity – how good was Scott Grix in Trinity’s win?! People were quick to give him stick for his error in their Super 8s defeat to St Helens last year so they should be quick to praise him. He led Trinity around the park excellently alongside fellow Ireland international Finn.
Onto Salford, they also shown in spells that they have the capability to be a classy side.
Watson is a brilliant coach as well and he has got them drilled well. Some teams would have given up trying to score at the end but they didn’t and it paid off.
Manu Vatuvei being out for the season is a big blow for the Red Devils but they have got a great younger winger in Jake Bibby and not to mention Evalds and Greg Johnson.
If they can gain consistency this year, then don’t be surprised to see them finish in the top-eight after the regular season.
They were unlucky not to get any points against Wakefield so their first win of 2018 doesn’t look too far away.
