Wakefield Trinity head coach Daryl Powell has provided a squad injury update, including for Tom Johnstone with Powell confirming the England winger is set to see a specialist.

Johnstone didn’t play in last Thursday’s shock defeat against Hull FC with the winger having suffered a groin injury in the resounding win over Catalans Dragons.

Despite scoring in that game, Johnstone ended up limping off and Powell has confirmed that he won’t play this week and will have to see a specialist.

Offering an injury update, he said: “Ollie Pratt’s not too far away. Tom went to see a specialist yesterday just to get a diagnosis on something that’s reared up and he’s been in a fair bit of pain. Hopefully, it’s not going to be anything too major, but I haven’t got anything super specific at the moment.

“I think I should know a bit more today, but he’s not available this week. Then we’ll see where he is. Fingers crossed, he’ll start to get back to fitness, but at the moment I haven’t really got any timescales on that.”

Jayden Myers played in his absence last week and could feature again this week, particularly in the absence of young outside back Pratt.

Wakefield Trinity welcome trio back as Powell confirms selection headache

Despite both Pratt and Johnstone missing the clash against Huddersfield, three key players were named to the 21-man squad and Powell noted that it will actually force some selection headaches.

He explained: “In the squad, we’ve got Renouf (Atoni), Matty Storton and Truey (Jake Trueman) so it gives us some more options there of what we’ve looked like a couple of times this season, with more selection, more ability to select players in the team, so it’s starting to look a little bit healthier.

“It’s a good challenge for me, really, to pick the right team and get that right when I’ve got more options. Generally, I’ve been just picking who’s fit, so this is a little bit different.”

Matty Storton is set to feature for the first time since March and it’s expected that his minutes will be managed, with Powell confirming: “I think from a minutes perspective, then I’ll just have to gauge it. He’s an 80-minute player, generally, but whether he can do that tomorrow, we’ll wait and see.

“We’ll have a rotation set up that we know exactly what we’re going to do there. He’s been great, he’s trained well, he looks good, he looks handful, so I’m looking forward to seeing him play again.”

He also explained that there had been a ‘harsher’ review after the loss to Hull FC, in which Wakefield folded in the second half in an error-strewn performance.

“It was little bit harsher this week in our review,” Powell stated, adding: “I think there’s been a response, and ultimately that’s what it’s all about. You don’t get everything right.

“Opposition sometimes too good for you, or your attitude is not in the right place. I just felt like we fell off a cliff a little bit there, a couple of different reasons why we lost that game. But ultimately I’m looking for a response this week, and that’s where it’s at.”

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