Wakefield Trinity vs Warrington Wolves, key talking points

The Wire are looking to avoid a sixth consecutive defeat and keep their play-off bid on track, while the hosts will aim to give their hopes of avoiding relegation another boost.

Ahead of the game, our Wire reporter Matt Turner assesses some key talking points…

A “must-win” game for Wire?

Purely for the team’s confidence and belief if nothing else, Sunday probably falls into the above category.

A sixth straight defeat would make it the club’s worst losing run since the dark days of 2002 and would come just a few short months after recording their best ever start to a Super League campaign.

This wild swing has made many people’s minds up about the team and its head coach, and a defeat to cellar-dwelling Wakefield would make even the most optimistic start to feel a little twitchy.

And while there will still be 14 Super League points to play for after this game, another loss will eat away more at a cushion inside the top six that is already close to disappearing.

A victory will not solve all of their problems, but it will certainly go some way to easing the pressure they are currently under.

The defeat at Wigan was Wire's fifth in a row (Image: PA)

Can Williams make the key difference?

Of their run of five straight defeats, the past four have seen Warrington forced to cope without their talismanic half-back.

In three of them – away losses at Castleford Tigers and Wigan Warriors and the home defeat to St Helens – the team have been in positions to win before going on to lose.

We can only speculate as to the difference George Williams would have made in those situations, but his presence surely wouldn’t have hurt their chances.

After the prospect of his return was teased in the past two fixtures, the England captain is set to take the field at Wakefield and resume his half-back partnership with Josh Drinkwater – the pair have started together just once in the past two months.

Williams is the most important cog in the Wire machine and with him back in place, they will hope to build positively around him.

George Williams - pictured here scoring against Wakefield earlier this year - is set to return on Sunday (Image: Mike Boden)

Round pegs in round holes?

Williams is not the only player likely to return this week, with Matty Nicholson also in contention having not featured since the reverse fixture against Wakefield in early May.

A ruptured tendon in his left ring finger needed corrective surgery and once Josh McGuire’s departure from the club had been confirmed, it left Wire desperately short in the back row.

The likes of James Harrison and, more recently, Joe Philbin have come out of their preferred middle unit spots to fill in, with youngsters Adam Holroyd and Tom Whitehead used sporadically.

However, Nicholson’s return should allow for a more unhindered middle-unit rotation with all of their options refreshed and available.

And Powell can only hope it leads to the kind of selection consistency he has been craving for so long.

Matty Nicholson also looks set to return from injury at Wakefield (Image: SWPix.com)

Beware a desperate Trinity

There is no such thing as an easy game in Super League, but Wakefield’s situation has looked pretty hopeless for so long.

Recently, however, there has been quite a revival to the point that avoiding relegation now looks to be a distinct possibility.

Three consecutive home victories has pulled them to within two points of neighbours Castleford and depending on how the Tigers get on at Challenge Cup finalists Hull KR on Friday, a win over Wire could end up lifting Trinity off the bottom.

They will play with the kind of desperation their position brings and with the crowd behind them, they will be confident of adding Warrington to a list of recent home scalps alongside Wigan, Salford and Leeds.

It is a ground Wire have struggled at recently – they have not won at Belle Vue for more than four years – and their trip there now looks much more difficult.

Wakefield have won their past three home games, including a golden-point win over Wigan earlier this month (Image: SWPix.com)

Another high-scoring game?

If recent history is to be believed, we could be in for plenty of entertainment on Sunday.

Of the past six meetings between the two at the Be Well Support Stadium, five of them have seen both teams score 20 points or more.

The only exception was an 18-8 defeat for The Wire in February 2020 in what was the long-awaited but ultimately anticlimactic debut of England international Gareth Widdop.

Daryl Powell has previously stated the team’s defensive marker is conceding no more than 12 points per game – a target they have only achieved four times this season and not at all since beating Hull FC 34-6 on April 1.

With Trinity boasting the competition’s worst defensive record with 520 points conceded in 19 games – an average of just over 27 per outing – tries appear to be pretty easy to come by against both sides.

Wire's thrilling 34-32 win in March 2019 was their last victory at the Be Well Support Stadium (Image: SWPix.com)