Salford City Reds v Wakefield Trinity: Returning Sykes out to upset former boss Noble

The West Yorkshire club have targeted the televised trip to lowly Salford City Reds as an obvious point to kickstart their season, especially given they then have an extended break due to the international weekend.

Their hopes of securing a much-needed first victory in five matches are aided by the availability once more of ex-England international Sykes, with the goal-kicking stand-off having missed six weeks with a knee injury.

He dubs it a “must-win” contest as 11th-placed Wakefield seek the points to keep their play-offs hopes alive and feels it is well within their grasp.

“I watched Salford at Magic Weekend so have seen them recently first hand,” Sykes told the Yorkshire Post.

“They’ve got some players playing well like the French scrum-half (Theo Fages) and their full-back (Marc Sneyd) while we all know what Martin Gleeson can do at centre as well.

“We know it’s going to be a hard game over there and Nobby will have them up for it but we have enough skill to get the job done.

“We just have to make sure we’re tough enough as well; get in the arm-wrestle, keep with them and then we have the players to make a difference.

“We have enough skill in this team to get Salford.”

Their struggling hosts are just a point above bottom-placed London Broncos and were embarrassed 68-10 at Warrington last week.

However, otherwise of late, they have shown some signs of recovery following the appointment of ex-Bradford Bulls and Great Britain coach Brian Noble.

“Nobby signed me for Bradford as a kid and gave me my first chance,” said Sykes, who came through the Bulls ranks before making his name at London Broncos

“I’ll always be grateful to him for that.

“I found him easy to get on with and he instills a lot of confidence in his sides.

“I think he’s done that with Salford’s mentality and they will be harder to crack under Nobby.

“They’ll be a tight unit but we’re just thinking about ourselves.”

Sykes believes Wakefield are about to turn a corner and he is relishing the opportunity to get playing again himself.

“It has been frustrating,” said the 31-year-old.

“I fractured my knee in two places at Widnes and it’s been hard watching on.

“You are dying to play and help out.

“The boys have been poor for a couple of games although last week I think they were unlucky not to knock off Wigan.

“They played some good stuff but just ran out of steam at the end.

“We’re looking to sort that out on Monday.”

Their hopes are improved as Sykes is not the only experienced player to return to Richard Agar’s squad this evening.

Talismanic Australian scrum-half Tim Smith plus player of the year Andy Raleigh and ex-Kiwi second-row Ali Lautiiti also resume after injuries.

“We are talking about some players that have been pivotal to what we’ve achieved over the last 18 months,” said Agar, who guided the Wildcats into the top eight with a late-season flourish in 2012.

“We’ve put ourselves in a position where this game becomes a very vital one.

“At the moment, it’s the most important game we’ve had this season and we’re very much treating it that way.

“We’ve a desperate bunch of players.

“The longer turnaround certainly gives us no excuses with our preparation.

“I’d like to think we’re fully energised.”

Second-row Frankie Mariano is also in contention for Wakefield following his return from a loan spell with Featherstone, who have taken centre Vince Mellars in return.

Salford are boosted by the return of Australian prop Shannon McPherson, who has been out since March with a knee injury, while they also expect to have former Leeds prop Darrell Griffin back after he missed last week’s defeat at Warrington.

“Watching Salford over the last five or six weeks, I’ve seen some improvement,” Agar said.

“Their line is a lot straighter, defensively they look organised and they are carrying the ball hard.

“I suppose they lack the strike of some teams in the top half of the table but I think they’ve turned themselves into a very honest side that looks quite determined to finish off the season as strong as they can.

“Their home form has been okay. We feel it’s going to be a tough game.”

Like Sykes, Agar has also pinpointed Reds captain Gleeson, the former St Helens and Great Britain centre, as a key threat.

“He’s still got the class to trouble most teams and we’ve got to be mindful of the pace out of backfield of Jodie Broughton,” he added.

“They carry the ball really strongly and I understand a couple of front rowers are coming back this week.

“Blokes like Griffin and McPherson, if he’s back, will give them plenty of punch up front,” he added.