Brown bemoans Wakefield Trinity’s lack of smarts in ailing play-off push

The Betfred Super League play-off picture was given a massive shake-up in Rivals Round when Wakefield Trinity went down to a surprise 26-22 defeat to local enemy Castleford Tigers.

And now, ahead of Trinity’s clash with leaders Hull Kingston Rovers on Saturday (17:30 BST, live on Sky Sports +), former Super League star Kevin Brown has identified a ‘lack of smarts’ as the key in them losing a position of strength in the race for the top six.

While Trinity remain in sixth spot thanks to KR’s win over seventh-placed Hull FC, FC’s softer run-in means their one-point deficit to Trinity could now be easily overhauled.

And Brown has told The Last Tackle on The Sportsman Rugby League that it was their lack of attention to detail with the ball that foiled Darryl Powell’s side in their bid to build a three-point buffer in the league table.

“I was really excited up until this week that Wakefield were finding some really good form and they were going to challenge the likes of Leigh and Wigan and St Helens,” Brown explained.

“But off the back of that performance, I’ll be totally honest, I don’t think they had the resilience in defence or the game awareness and the smarts with the ball.

“I thought they gave way too many chances to Cas, and I thought Castleford were better than the score suggests.”

The former Wigan, Huddersfield, Widnes and Warrington half-back added that the newly-promoted side have done well on their return from the Betfred Championship, but insists that improved showings against Hull KR and Salford Red Devils are the priority now after the disappointment at Castleford.

“There are a few areas for concern there, but what I would say is that they’re on a journey where it wasn’t about Year One,” he added.

“Year One has been positive, but they don’t want to let themselves down now. I think if they can finish off now over the next few weeks and really give themselves a positive couple of performances then Darryl will be happy with Year One.”

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Fellow guest and former Super League star Andrew Henderson agreed with Brown’s assessment.

“You’ve made a really good point there about the game management and game smarts. When it comes to those big games, you’ve got to be a bit more methodical and you’ve got to know when to kick the ball, where to kick the ball, and understand how to build that pressure. And Wakefield probably lacked a little bit of that on the night.”

Wakefield go into the final two rounds on 26 points, while Hull FC have 25. But with Hull facing winnable home games against Warrington and Catalans, both of whom have turned in disappointing campaigns and have nothing tangible to play for, Wakey probably need to beat a Hull KR team gunning to clinch the League Leaders’ Shield with victory at the DIY Kitchens Stadium.

Both Wakefield and Hull are 100/1 shots for Grand Final victory at Old Trafford on October 11, while Trinity are a 5/2 chance to beat the table-toppers on Saturday.

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