'Stand up and be counted': Mark Applegarth's blunt message to Wakefield Trinity after latest defeat

Trinity had no answer to Leigh Leopards at Belle Vue, conceding six tries without reply to suffer a fifth shutout of the year in a 32-0 loss.

Applegarth has yet to taste success since replacing Willie Poching in the off-season but he has reiterated his belief that he can steer the club away from relegation danger.

"Course I think I'm the right man," he said. "It's frustrating but it's a difficult process that I've got to go through.

"Some players out there are giving it everything they've got. You look at Jai Whitbread and Lee Kershaw's effort to run back to make that (try-saving) tackle – you can see how much it means to a few of them.

"Jay Pitts, Sam Hewitt had another cracking game and I've probably missed a couple. They're the lads I need to build this team around and are the sort of people that envisage what I want Wakefield Trinity to be about.

"At the moment, I don't think we've got enough in terms of that quality and those efforts to build the foundation of our game off."

Wakefield have scored just 47 points in nine games, 24 of which came against Catalans Dragons in round one.

Applegarth accepted that Trinity are suffering from a lack of belief but has urged his players to stop feeling sorry for themselves.

"You've got to stand up and be counted," he said.

"We're talking fully grown men here. I'm not dealing with an under-18s team where they're learning about life.

"This is where you earn your bread. This is life. You've got to put your best foot forward every week and can't rely on someone else to pump your tyres up. You've got to go around your mates pumping theirs up because you're confident you can pump your own.

"Confidence does need to come back. We've all got a responsibility for that and need to meet that challenge head on."

Trinity went toe to toe with Leigh for much of the first half, only to concede two tries leading into the break.

Applegarth's side never looked like mounting a comeback and allowed the scoreline to get away from them in a one-sided second period.

"Some of the individual quality is not acceptable for this level of rugby," said Applegarth.

"I can't keep on saying the same thing every week because the reality is we've got to fix it up. What we saw in that second half is just not acceptable.

"The responsibility is on all of us but I'm head coach so the buck stops with me.

"I'm pi**ed off when I see that because we're doing one thing in training and doing another thing in a game. That's the thing that rattles you as a coach."

Trinity face trips to Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves either side of the international break before hosting fellow strugglers Hull FC.

"Every game for us has to be like a couple final," added Applegarth.

"People keep on saying the Hull FC game is going to be a massive one but it's not if they go on to win the next two and we've put all our eggs in one basket.

"Every game is tough when you're bottom of the league. We can't afford to be saying that one game looks tougher than another – they're all tough.

"We're going to dust ourselves down, come in for an honest conversion with each other in review and will then get ready for Wigan. Our focus will be no further than that."