Veteran playmaker Danny Brough excited by second stint at Wakefield Trinity as vice-captain

Brough rejoined Trinity last month in a swap deal which took Scott Grix back to Huddersfield Giants.

The Dewsbury-born playmaker made 51 Super League appearances for Trinity from 2008 to 2010.

Trinity finished eighth during his first season there and fifth the following year before he moved on early in the 2009 campaign, but he insisted: “The club are definitely a lot stronger now.”

He said: “Michael and Chris [chief executive Michael Carter and coach Chris Chester] and everyone behind the scenes has done a great job and we’re really looking to kick on and have a good season.”

Brough, who will turn 36 on January 15, said he is enthused by his move back to Wakefield.

“It probably is [something he needed] at this stage,” he admitted.

“It is a shake up, something different.

“You might go stale at clubs if you’ve been there that long.

“I have really enjoyed it [at Trinity], it’s a good set of lads, we’ve trained hard in pre-season and everybody gets along.

“We’re just looking to play some decent rugby and pick up the results.”

Brough added: “I have settled in really well and Chezzy [Chester] making me vice-captain was good.

“I have got respect for these boys and they’ve got it for me so it goes a long way towards helping us hopefully start the season pretty well.

“We’ll get the friendlies out of the way and then kick on and hopefully enjoy it.”

Brough will support Jacob Miller who has been appointed skipper for 2019.

Of being vice-captain, he said: “I’m obviously proud of it.

“Any time you get chance to have a bit of a say-so it is decent. I try and speak with my actions, but everybody knows they only have to ask me and I’ll try and help them as much as I can.”

Chester believes Brough’s kicking game in particular will give Trinity something they have been lacking in previous seasons. “I hope so,” Brough said. “But Milky [Miller] and Rocky [Ryan Hampshire] are good kickers.

“Hopefully I can help them and the lads will kick on in a couple of years when I’m not there.”

The former Dewsbury Rams, York City Knights, Castleford Tigers and Hull half-back made his second debut for Trinity when they lost 10-4 at Leeds Rhinos two days ago.

“I thought we were quite good in patches,” he said of Trinity’s opening pre-season game.

“We planned to try and have a solid defence, we weren’t so much bothered about attack.

“Obviously a loss is a loss, but it’s a pre-season friendly, a lot of people got a lot of minutes and overall pretty comfortable.

“Chris was happy so it was a decent hit-out.”

Of Wakefield’s defence, Brough added: “Leeds scored one try off a lucky bounce, which can happen to anybody and they scored off a decent play when we didn’t move up quick enough off our line.

“We were pretty pleased.”

But, he added: “We felt we should have scored a couple more tries, but it is nothing to worry about.

“We will get our systems right for the start of the season.”