Wakefield Trinity v St Helens: Kear piles pressure on Saints as Trinity stay calm

Saints are teetering on the brink after losing their last three matches of the Super 8s and need a victory at Belle Vue tonight to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

Victory for unfancied Wakefield would lift them into third spot, while defeat for the 2014 champions would leave them trailing Hull by four points with just two rounds left to play.

“The weight of expectation is all on St Helens because, let’s face it, if they lose, they aren’t going to get in the top four,” Kear said. “It’s do or die for them.

“We don’t feel under any pressure because, once we got in the top eight, everybody thought that was us done.

“I was personally delighted about that.

“The so-called experts pointed out that we had never won a play-off game so that was one thing that inspired us. They are still writing us off and we enjoy that. It’s been the same at Wakefield since 1999 when they first came into Super League.

“We’re in fourth place now and two of our last three games are at home so it’s ours to lose now. The test will be nailing that and we’re confident we can do that.

“The players are in very good spirits. When you play as well as they did last week, they can go into this game with a degree of confidence and anticipation.”

Wakefield stayed on course for a maiden Super League semi-final with a resounding 43-18 win at Salford, but centre Joe Arundel says the team are still hurting by a 41-16 home defeat by St Helens in the final match of the regular season.

“We owe them one for that performance,” Arundel said. “They absolutely blew us off the park. We know we didn’t play well that day. Obviously it’s a big game this week and we know we can make some great strides up the table if we get the result.”

Wakefield have given a new contract to forward Chris Annakin, the club’s longest-serving player, that will enable him to stay full-time.

The 26-year-old prop or second rower, who came through the academy ranks at Wakefield and turned professional in 2010, has signed a new two-year deal which will keep him at Belle Vue until the end of 2019.

“I am pleased,” Annakin said. “It has been something that I have been aiming for. I thought I might have to go part-time at the end of the year but I am delighted that I have a new deal.”

Saints come into tonight’s game off the back of a 26-16 derby defeat by Wigan and coach Justin Holbrook admits they cannot afford another loss.

“We haven’t got time to dwell on the loss to Wigan,” he said. “We have to focus on a must-win game against Wakefield.

“I said to the playing group in our review, it is perform now or we are gone.

“There’s no extra week where we can talk about missed opportunities or improving, we have to get it right on Thursday. I’m excited about that, as it is a do-or-die game, and that is the beauty of the Super 8s.”

Australian winger Steve Michaels will leave Hull at the end of the season.

Michaels, 30, who has scored 30 tries for the Airlie Birds since joining them from Gold Coast Titans in 2015 and was in the team that won the Challenge Cup in 2016, is out of contract and will return home.

Michaels was in the Hull team that lost to Leeds last Thursday but will miss tomorrow’s home game against Wigan through suspension.

The club have already confirmed that captain Gareth Ellis will retire at the end of the season, while winger Mahe Fonua is joining Wests Tigers.

Youngsters Mike Adlard, Connor Bower, Zeus Silk and Jack Wray, who are yet to feature in the first team and are out on loan, are also leaving.

Hull have signed winger Bureta Faraimo and prop Mickey Paea for 2018, while Dean Hadley, Jordan Abdull and Jack Logan will return after being out on loan for most of this year.

Former New Zealand international Sam Rapira will join Championship club Toulouse when he leaves Huddersfield at the end of the season.

The capture of the 30-year-old prop is a sign of Toulouse’s determination to reach Super League in 2019 after narrowly missing out on the Qualifiers this season.