Numbers add up in Wildcats' timely revival

Fans of the West Yorkshire club are still in a state of bewildered bliss following Sunday’s remarkable 62-0 rout of Wigan Warriors.

It marked four successive wins for Chester since he took full control of a side that had prospered just once previously this term and finished bottom in 2015.

Indeed, to put into further context why Belle Vue is currently so joyous, Trinity only actually won three games in the whole of last year’s Super League campaign.

Yet some doubters saw Chester’s appointment as questionable given just three weeks earlier the Wakefield-born 37-year-old was relieved of duties at Hull KR following that club’s slovenly start.

Admittedly, he had taken Rovers to Wembley last August in his first season as a head coach but they were then vanquished 50-0 by Leeds Rhinos and finished 10th, so were forced into a relegation battle in the Qualifiers.

However, Carter said none of that deterred him at all.

“I laughed with (Rovers chairman) Neil Hudgell last year when we were out somewhere and I said, ‘give me a cup final and seven wins in the Qualifiers any day’,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“I thought Chezzy did remarkably well in those Middle Eights bearing in mind he had no Terry Campese or, for most of them, Albert Kelly either.

“If you were going to be in the Middle Eights, you’d want three or four wins straight up and then knowing one more win you’d be able to have your feet up, and that’s what they did under Chris.

“With a Challenge Cup final on top of that – I’d estimate that would bring you at least £400,000 – I told Neil I could certainly live with that.

“In fairness to Chris, and this is not in anyway having a go at KR, I just thought he was really unlucky with the injury situation there this season. A lot of circumstances saw Chris out of that job but I didn’t have any concerns bringing him here. He’s got us playing some great football.”

Wakefield certainly have a joie de vivre about them now having defeated Huddersfield Giants, Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils and then Wigan under Chester’s guidance but, as Carter regales, he always promised that.

“There’s an element of pot luck whoever you pick but I just got this feeling about Chris,” he continued.

“He felt he could come in, raise spirits and put some belief in the players. He said all along – and kept harking back to it in his interview with me and (director) Chris (Brereton) – that he could put smiles back on faces.

“Chris felt the squad was decent but had the weight of the world on their shoulders. He said let him take the pressure on, he’ll get them smiling and we’ll see where we go.”

For the record, they are currently going towards the top eight.

“(Assistant) Stuart Dickens came in this morning and said straight away it’s nice to be looking up rather than down the table,” added Carter.

“We probably will be studying the league table a bit more now.

“Against Wigan, it was nice to be able to look at the clock with half an hour to go and think we’re pretty safe. In my experience over the last two and a half years, I’ve been on the other side of that a number of times but not really this way around.

“I’m delighted just with the way we’re playing. We scored some great tries and not just through individual brilliance – there was some outstanding team tries, too.

“Yet just to nil someone was massive for us as well; players were putting their bodies on the line time after time even with just a couple of minutes left and we’re winning 62-0.

“It was almost a year to the day that Warrington put 80 points on us so the desire from us was brilliant to see.”

Carter had wanted to get more “Wakefield people” involved at the club and knowing Chester was a lifelong fan – he would watch games whenever possible even while working at Hull KR – helped his decision.

“I just felt it was the right fit; he gets the whole club,” added Carter, with Sheffield Eagles next up in Friday’s Challenge Cup tie.

“He knows we haven’t the biggest amount of money or greatest facilities but it doesn’t perturb him. He knows the constraints we’re working with and I guess we have the lowest salaries in Super League but he’s fine with that.

“We could have talked about changes to the squad but he didn’t want to and was happy with the players we had.”

It is easy to see why now given the way Chester has teased out such fine displays.

Meanwhile, Carter has rebuffed interest from a Super League rival for Trinity’s talented 20-year-old winger Tom Johnstone. “I actually had a phone call on Saturday but I told them Tom’s going nowhere,” he said.

“He’s an integral part of our team and fundamental to what we are building the club on – players coming through the Academy like Tom, Max Jowitt, Chris Annakin, Jordan Crowther and James Batchelor.

“It all goes back again to building the club on Wakefield people.”