Photo by Ed Sykes/SWpix.com – 08/06/2024 – Rugby League – AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final – Sheffield Eagles v Wakefield Trinity – Wembley Stadium, London, England – Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis celebrates with the trophy after the match
Wakefield Trinity have turned heads this season, both on and off the pitch. Since last season’s relegation, they have been taken over by new owner Matt Ellis, who has transformed a once ailing West Yorkshire team.
On the pitch, Wakefield looks set for an immediate return to Super League. They have won twelve out of twelve in the Championship so far this year and while promotion will not be decided solely on their position in the league, they meet many of the criteria set out in the IMG criteria.
Their recruitment has also attracted attention in recent weeks, as they have completed a number of transfers in their bid to re-establish themselves in the Super League in 2025. Having already made the signings of England internationals Mike McMeeken and Tom Johnstone, Wakefield have also announced that Cam Scott and Olly Russell will join the club next season.
Now it appears the club has set its sights on reaching the top of the Super League.
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Wakefield Trinity aim for top four in Super League
Credit: Imago Images
Before finally succumbing to relegation at the end of the 2023 season, Wakefield were a perennial struggler in the division and seemed constantly under threat of the drop.
However, if the club are promoted, their aim is not simply to survive next season. Speaking on the club’s YouTube channel, Wakefield’s Recruitment and Salary Cap Manager, Ste Mills, has outlined their ambitions for the coming years. He stated that the club are aiming to break into the top four of Super League. Mills said:
“With some key additions at an older age, like Mike McMeeken and the like, the whole philosophy is to go for young players. We want this team to stay together for three, four, five years and hopefully longer, along with the coaching staff. That’s the whole philosophy around everything.
“You know, we want players with a high ceiling, who can get better as time goes on and we support our coaching and the coaching team to make those players better. We want to mold these guys into international players. That’s what they want, that’s what we want and we’re all on the same path.
“We want to be a top four Super League team. We are not happy to be bottom of the Super League next year.”
Trinity wants to build a core of young English talent
Credit: Imago Images
Speaking specifically about the signings of Russell and Scott, Mills explained that one of the key tenets of the club’s recruitment strategy was to develop a core that contained some of the game’s brightest English talents.
Mills believes that in Russell and Scott Wakefield have acquired players who can perform both now and in the future. Mills stated:
“Yes, two important additions to the team for next year and beyond. The big thing is that both are British guys, we feel the real key values for our team.
“In key positions of course, Cam is a young English center who can also play in defense. I just think he has so much potential and we are talking about a boy of 23, 24 years old, he has so many years ahead of him and he is not a player who is at the end of his career.
“It’s an exciting signing and the same goes for Olly, another young lad, he’s played a lot of games in Super League for his age, a real leader, a real talker with the team, that’s what we need in the squad for next year.”
