St Helens v Wakefield Trinity: Daryl Powell slams 'ridiculous' fixture schedule with Super League table observation

Trinity face two West Yorkshire derbies against Castleford Tigers in the space of three weeks after Friday's trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium, yet they are still to play four of the competition’s 12 teams.

The unpopular loop fixtures skew the league table, according to Powell.

"I think the fixture list is crazy," he said.

"We’ve not played Huddersfield or Salford yet but we're playing Cas twice and will have played Saints twice.

"It's madness, really. I don't think you can get a sense of the table. Quite a lot of teams have played against Cas and Salford – and we haven’t. I'm not saying there's anything in that but you can't get a true perspective of the competition.

"I don’t understand. They say it’s a computer that’s picked it but where is this computer? It's just ridiculous.

"There’s nothing we can do about it. We've just got to crack on and take each week as it comes."

Wakefield were well beaten by St Helens at Belle Vue last month after paying the price for an error-strewn performance.

However, Powell's side can take encouragement from their away record, with Leeds Rhinos, Warrington Wolves and Leigh Leopards all succumbing to Trinity on home soil.

Powell has challenged Wakefield to turn their early promise into consistent results.

"Saints are formidable at home," he said. "They've been consistent there for a long time.

"Since the home game, I think we've changed as a team a bit and grown. We've won some games against some of the perceived bigger teams.

"We're showing we can handle the level of competition. The challenge for us is to go to teams like St Helens and come away with something.

"Belief is growing in what we're capable of but we've got to act on that in these big games.

"We want to be consistent. I think we're getting that in terms of performance but certainly not in terms of selection.

"The squad is doing a great job of putting performances together no matter who's on the field – but I'd like to see us winning games more consistently. That's a real challenge for us."

Oliver Russell and Matty Russell joined Wakefield's casualty list during last week's Challenge Cup defeat to Leigh but Seth Nikotemo is set to feature after a fractured thumb delayed his Super League debut.

Influential full-back Max Jowitt will be given every chance to prove he has fully recovered from a lower leg injury.

"He was getting a lot of aching pain after he was exercising so it's been about building him up," said Powell.

"He'll be a late call but he's run again today which is great. It'll be this week or next week.

"It's good to have it looking like he's coming back because he's obviously an important player for us. Josh Rourke has done a great job but I've got a couple of important players who have been sat out the last few weeks.

"We'll see how the next couple of weeks roll with people like Truey (Jake Trueman) and Max."