Wakefield Trinity Hull FC

Wakefield Trinity Daryl Powell has had his say on the controversial sin bin for St Helens’ forward George Delaney, slamming it as a ‘bit of a joke’, before going on to note how deserving the Red Vee were of their win.

Trinity were on the wrong end of a 34-4 result with St Helens good value for the win as they blitzed Wakefield in the first half and continued to suffocate them defensively throughout the game.

Wakefield thought they’d gone ahead through Mike McMeeken only to have that overturned because of an incorrect play the ball in the build-up. That was punished immediately with St Helens scoring through Alex Walmsley on the following set and that ruthlessness was characteristic of Saints in the first 40.

One of the times they did stray was when George Delaney hit Lachlan Walmsley high with a shot that commentators Mark Wilson and Jon Wells both deemed worthy of a red card, only for the young forward to be shown yellow.

Wakefield Trinity boss gives verdict on George Delaney sin bin

It was explained to Daryl Powell in his post-match interview on Sky Sports that Delaney didn’t see red because the tackle was judged ‘low-level force’, something he laughed at and questioned.

“Well, it’s a red,” was Powell’s immediate response, before adding: “I don’t think that’s the game. We got beat at everything tonight so there’s no point looking at that.”

Reacting to the suggestion it was low-level force, Powell said: “It’s a bit of a joke if that’s what they’re saying. (Try) get on the end of one of them if you want to see how low-level that is.

“I’m not taking anything away from St Helens, they were way too good for us tonight and we have to cop that and move on. We’re still in a battle and we can’t let that derail us.”

Powell continued, adding: “I think the week off for players is very good but I thought you could see a lot of rustiness from tonight, a lot of handling errors and lack of co-ordination. We trained ok but when you get under the hear of it all and you’ve got Saints coming at you like they do, they fully deserve that tonight.

“Sending off, it probably should have been but I don’t think it would have made that much difference. I thought they were ahead of us by a distance tonight.”

Saints too good for Wakefield, concedes Powell

Despite the defeat, Powell confirmed his side still have plenty to play for as he looked ahead.

He explained: “Regardless of what happened tonight, I think we’ve got a great opportunity. I think Hull will beat Salford on Sunday and then we play Salford next week so I just think whichever team holds their nerve and can get some consistency in these last six games.”

One thing they’ll need to do is improve on their showing versus Saints, and Powell noted: “You can’t go into the top six playing like that, that’s for sure. They boys will be disappointed with that tonight. I think Saints have been too good for us all year, I think they’re the only team really that have been a level above us and we’ve got to get our heads around that.

“Tonight we weren’t able to and I’m pretty disappointed with that but there’s some understandable bits in there as well, which we need to take into consideration when breaking it down and looking to improve from it.”