Wakefield Trinity injury latest as Luke Gale suffers fresh setback in debut quest
Luke Gale's wait for his Wakefield Trinity debut goes on after suffering a setback ahead of last week's match against Catalans Dragons.
The veteran half-back joined Trinity from Keighley Cougars in early May but has not featured in any of the club's four games since his arrival because of a groin issue.
Gale was due to make his long-awaited bow in Perpignan, only to aggravate the injury at the 11th hour.
The 34-year-old has been ruled out of Sunday's Magic Weekend date with Leigh Leopards but Applegarth is hopeful of having the playmaker available when his old club Leeds Rhinos visit Belle Vue next week.
The Wakefield boss stressed that Gale is still contributing off the field following the recent departure of assistant coach James Ford.
"Luke won’t be in the 21-man squad,” said Applegarth.
“He's nursing a bit of a groin injury. We are hoping it’s not too bad.
“Luke has been helping out on the coaching side with me, helping the pivots and things like that.
"Hopefully it won’t be too long. He was all set to play at Catalans. He did two quality training sessions and we were all getting a bit excited that we had what we perceived to be our first-choice spine. He just tweaked it slightly so it was literally a last-minute change.
"We’ve just got to be smart. He’s no spring chicken anymore so as much as you do want to play him, you’ve still got to make sure he can get through a game of rugby league.
"Hopefully he’ll be available for Leeds but he has just got to let it settle down.”
Applegarth saw Kelepi Tanginoa join the lengthy list of absentees in France, while he is also assessing other bumps and bruises.
The forward will miss a chunk of the second half of the season.
"A broken arm is six to 12 weeks," said Applegarth.
"It depends how it's healing. They've got to make sure the bone has knitted back together.
"If you're an optimistic, you're saying six weeks; if you're a pessimist, you're looking at 12."
Reece Lyne, Jai Whitbread, Renouf Atoni, Lee Gaskell and Samisoni Langi remain on the sidelines – along with Lewis Murphy who has been ruled out for the rest of the season – but Tom Lineham is set to return from a finger injury this week.
On Whitbread's injury, Applegarth said: "He's got a groin strain.
"I'm no expert on this but from when he first did it we were talking four to five weeks and we're a couple of weeks down the line now.
"Hopefully he should be back fit around that Challenge Cup weekend. He's a massive player and a figurehead of that pack along with Pittsy (Jay Pitts)."