Wakefield Trinity vs Hull KR Prediction: Wakey to add to champs’ Wembley woe

One of the games of the weekend takes place at the DIY Kitchens Stadium on Saturday as a hungry Wakefield Trinity side host a Hull KR team licking its wounds after a Wembley humbling at the hands of Wigan last weekend. (Kick off 4:30pm, live on BBC Two)

Rovers will want a strong response after their Betfred Challenge Cup heartache but will find a Trinity team firmly established in the top six after impressive back-to-back wins. Here are my Wakefield Trinity vs Hull KR predictions, full team news and Betfred's match odds.

Wakefield Trinity vs Hull KR Odds

As reigning champions, Rovers are the slight favourites at 4/5. Wakey are 11/10, implying a 47.6% probability of them repeating their Round 26 victory over the Robins last season. The draw in 80 minutes is a 14/1 chance.

Team News

I really fancied Hull KR to repeat their Grand Final win over Wigan with another at Wembley last week, but Rovers were as poor as the Warriors were excellent.

KR head coach Willie Peters has kept faith with the majority of his 21-man Wembley squad this week, making just two changes with both enforced.

Forward Dean Hadley was a doubt all week but made the starting lineup at Wembley only to suffer a head injury early on that ended his involvement. He is missing this week through concussion protocols, with Rhyse Martin set to deputise once more.

Jack Brown has left the club for Castleford, and the two players to come in are Tevita Pangai Jr - who could make his debut - and Ryan Hampshire.

Mikey Lewis suffered an ankle injury but played on at Wembley and is included again. Peters says he has come through training fine this week.

Wakefield make just one change to the side who beat Toulouse a fortnight ago.

And it’s good news for boss Daryl Powell who has England winger Tom Johnstone back. Will Tate is the man to make way.

Wakefield by 1-12 @ 12/5

Recency bias is a risk here as there feels a big temptation to back Wakefield to spring a surprise against the champions.

Rovers had been flying but will have been hurt by how comprehensively they were outplayed by Wigan at Wembley in front of over a million pairs of eyes on the BBC.

This is a really difficult game for Rovers to try to respond in. Wakefield have been excellent this year and their fifth place in the league is no fluke.

The handicap is only two points, which shows you how well Trinity have been going.

The teams met three times last year and Rovers won two of them. The most recent meeting, though, was that late-season clash which brought a 28-12 home win for Wakefield.

This feels like a prediction that could go awry but I can’t help shake the feeling that Trinity will produce a big performance after a fortnight off.

Rugby League Odds

Oliver Pratt Anytime Tryscorer @ 6/5

For that to happen, all of Wakey's top strike options will need to fire.

Oliver Pratt has been my most reliable pick out wide and has maintained his excellent scoring run with six tries in his last five games.

For Rovers, both wingers will need to be right on it, while centre Peta Hiku (7/4) was the pick of the bunch at Wembley with two tries.