Cockayne hoping to repay Powell by inflicting derby defeat

The robust Wakefield Trinity winger may currently be in the England elite training squad and striving for a World Cup place but less than two years ago he had much less stock against his name.

Sacked by Hull KR after a third breach of discipline in July 2011, no Super League club dared risk taking on a player who was undoubtedly hard-working and talented but also susceptible to the occasional off-field misdemeanour.

But Powell, then in charge at Championship pacesetters Featherstone Rovers, saw no reason not to give Cockayne the chance to redeem himself.

He duly repaid that faith and, after plenty of self-analysis and a prolific couple of months of action culminating in a Grand Final win over Sheffield Eagles, was returned to Super League with Wakefield where he has since flourished.

After a 10-year exile, Powell was given his own opportunity to rejoin the elite last month when he left Rovers for Castleford.

In only his second game since taking charge, they take on Trinity at Magic Weekend this afternoon and no one is as pleased for the affable 47-year-old as Cockayne.

Considering the role the ex-Leeds Rhinos chief played in his rehabilitation, he told the Yorkshire Post: “I’m really grateful to Daryl for keeping me in rugby league.

“If I’d have dropped any lower than the standard Featherstone was playing at I might have been in trouble and not found a way back to the top. I’m really thankful for that for giving me that chance. I managed to win another trophy with them – the Championship title – and it was a great few months.

“I am really glad Daryl is back in Super League as I do think he’s a great coach.

“I wouldn’t say he was wasted in the lower league. But I reckon Daryl waited for the right time to take an opportunity to get back in here – I’m sure there’s been offers for him in the past – and he’s taken that Cas job now.

“He’ll do well with them as he is a good coach, knows how to look after his players and how to treat them.

“I’ve nothing but respect for him and if Daryl can create a happy environment where players are enjoying their rugby with smiles on faces I think he might be able to turn it around.

“Just hopefully not against us this weekend...”

Castleford are, of course, joint-bottom of Super League with Salford City Reds and London Broncos but they are confident of escaping that end.

Powell’s first assignment was against Catalan Dragons in Perpignan a week ago when his side started badly but recovered to eventually only lose 39-30.

Today’s fixture in Manchester is a more likely source of that first victory for the former Great Britain centre given Wakefield are in 10th spot and suffering from some inconsistencies of their own.

After losing comprehensively at former club Hull KR last weekend, sacrificing an 18-16 interval lead to be demolished 44-18, Cockayne freely admits the Magic Weekend contest is now of real significance to their play-off hopes.

“We could have done with the win at Rovers but obviously the Cas game is now pretty vital,” continued the physical wideman, who has belatedly forced his way to the verge of an England debut at the age of 29.

“There’s no bigger game than a derby and there’s quite a lot riding on this.

“If we can get a win over Cas we’ll be hanging around that ninth/eighth position and still within a shout of the play-offs.

“But if we lose it’s going to be a real tough ask for us to run in like we did last year.”

Last summer, Trinity memorably won their last seven regular fixtures to sneak into the top eight on the final weekend but Cockayne is fully aware chances of repeating such a stunning sequence are low.

They must string together some form now to keep on the tails of Hull KR, St Helens, Bradford Bulls and Hull FC so the acquisition of Parramatta Eels prop Taulima Tautai – who should debut today after, ironically, almost signing for Castleford just before Ian Millward was sacked – will certainly add some impetus.

But Cockayne, who has 11 tries from 14 league games so far, acknowledges there can be no repeat of Sunday’s worrying capitulation.

“At half-time we were in with a really good shout,” he said.

“But in the second half Mickey Paea and Rhys Lovegrove ran riot for them and we didn’t do ourselves any favours.

“We were a little soft. There was a couple of uncharacteristic errors from myself and a few other players which cost us and we were smacked.”