Hirst earns his chance at Trinity

Hirst, who followed Kear from Championship part-timers Batley to Belle Vue over the winter, has had to bide his time but is set to appear from the bench against visiting Leigh Centurions.

Leigh have won three of their opening five games since earning promotion, including a fine victory over beaten Grand Finalists Warrington Wolves last week.

Kear has certainly been impressed by how they have adapted to the top-flight but their form is also one of the reasons why he thinks his former Bulldogs captain Hirst will prosper, too.

“I’m particularly excited about Keegan being in the 19,” said the Wales coach, who worked with the former Hunslet Hawks and Featherstone Rovers front-row for five years at Mount Pleasant.

“Hopefully he gets a run-out and we see that he is Super League level.

“He was certainly one of the best props in the Championship along with some of those Leigh props – and they are now proving they are Super League players.

“I’m certain that Keegan, should he get the opportunity, will do a similar thing.

“He’s been patient but he was injured in pre-season – that put him back – and then he went on dual-reg to Dewsbury.

“He had a really good game for them against Hull Kingston Rovers and I think that gave us a lot more confidence to say ‘right, he may well be nearing the time to see how he gets on in Super League.’ He’s looking to take his chance, now.”

Wakefield are keen to put Friday’s heavy 38-14 defeat at Leeds Rhinos behind them and return to the form that saw them beat St Helens and Salford Red Devils back-to-back.

Kear added: “It is important we respond. We’d played eight halves of rugby league before going to Leeds and there was only one I was disappointed with and that was the Huddersfield second half. But obviously we didn’t play well at all against Leeds.

“We defended well and were nuggety for 25 minutes but then our energy went because of putting ourselves under pressure with self-inflicted errors.

“Leeds took advantage. It was disappointing from our point of view and I don’t think it’s a fair reflection of us this year.

“We need to put Wakefield 2017 on the field for this Leigh game,” he added.

Leigh are yet to win on the road but have beaten St Helens, Huddersfield Giants and Warrington on their own ground.

Paul Cooke, who helped Hull FC win the Challenge Cup in 2005 under Kear and played for him at Wakefield in 2010, is working there as an assistant coach.

Kear said: “The half-backs are clever. I can see a Paul Cooke influence in how Josh Drinkwater and Ben Reynolds are playing and obviously the three-quarters can finish.

“I’m a big fan of Adam Higson who’s on the wing.

“From my time at Batley we always used to think he was a pest, basically, and difficult to handle.

“He’s certainly proved that this year in Super League, too.”

Meanwhile, Castleford coach Daryl Powell is delighted their Super League top try-scorer Greg Minikin is not facing a lengthy period on the sidelines.

The Castleford winger injured his shoulder in the process of scoring his ninth try of the campaign during Sunday’s 13-12 loss at Salford Red Devils.

It was feared he had suffered serious damage but the player, who turns 22 next week, may only sit out this Sunday’s game against Catalans Dragons.

“Potentially it could be just this week he misses but we’ll see how he goes when we start loading him up,” explained Powell.

“He’s on complete rest at the moment. He’s seen a specialist and had a scan. I don’t think it’s too bad.

“He has a little bit of a problem with some ligament but hopefully he’ll be alright and we’ll see how he goes over the next week or so.

“But he’s been good. He’s a high quality player who’s going to be an outstanding player of the future so I’m really pleased he’s not too seriously injured.”

Former Australia winger Joel Monaghan comes in as Castleford bid to recover from losing their 100 per cent winning start.

Centre Jake Webster should be fit in time after he departed at Salford with a head knock and Powell said ex-England stand-off Rangi Chase could come into the 19-man squad for the first time since being suspended by the club four weeks ago.