Wakefield Trinity v Huddersfield Giants: Jordy Crowther on Hunger Games training and pitch 'moaning'

The proud Wakefield native was forced to watch the defeats to Catalans Dragons and Wigan Warriors from the sidelines after suffering a concussion towards the end of pre-season.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Trinity since the 60-0 hammering at the DW Stadium following the loss of Max Jowitt and Kelepi Tanginoa to injury amid a furore over the new hybrid surface at Belle Vue.

Crowther – together with hooker Liam Hood – will hand Wakefield a boost when Huddersfield Giants visit on Friday night.

The hardworking forward is ready to lead from the front to help Trinity set the record straight.

"To produce that was really disheartening," said the 26-year-old.

"I think everyone will agree it was quite embarrassing. We haven't worked so hard for all those months to toss up that on a weekend.

"We owe it to our fans and the club this week to put it right. If there isn't a mindset switch from that loss, I don't know what it's going to take to make us get up for the week after.

"For me watching it, it really fired me up. Hoody is similar to me in that he goes 110 per cent. We'll try bring energy in that middle and get the lads around us buzzed up to get them to come along with us."

In response to the chastening result against Wigan, Mark Applegarth upped the intensity of training in the early part of this week.

Although the session was not quite as extreme as a fight to the death, the Trinity players were left in no doubt about what is expected of them.

"Monday was an all-out day," said Crowther. "We called it 'Hunger Games' at training.

"It was a two-hour field session of just contact and then some video when we got back.

"The lads were saying the Monday session was pretty gruelling."

The build-up to the clash with the Giants has been dominated by talk about the Belle Vue pitch, which had to be reinspected on Wednesday following complaints by Catalans.

Seven Dragons players were left with infected wounds after the round one clash, leading to suggestions that the surface was unfit.

Crowther has no such concerns, claiming that people are just waiting to have a pop at Wakefield.

"It's not ideal but we're just concentrating on the game," he said.

"We've trained on it since after Christmas so we know what it's like and we're fine with it.

"It's just a few people whinging and moaning, especially some fans. They complained about how run down our stadium and pitch were so the club have rightly tried to sort things out, then it backfires on them and we get more negative comments about it.

"It's a lose-lose no matter what Wakey do."

Despite passing an inspection, the Belle Vue pitch will be under the microscope on Friday.

The Trinity players have received assurances that it will improve in the weeks and months ahead.

"That's one thing we've got our heads around," said Crowther.

"We are going to have to do it tough at the minute because there's hardly any sun and we've got freezing temperatures – but it's not as bad as people are making out.

"Once the spring months start to come, we'll really see some grass come through and it'll probably be one of the best surfaces in the league."

As well as the injuries to Jowitt and Tanginoa, Applegarth remains without Reece Lyne.

Although the club have yet to reveal the nature of the problem, the Trinity head coach has allayed any long-term fears over the experienced centre.

“It is a medical issue as we’ve already released," said Applegarth, who confirmed Jowitt will be out for up to three months and Tanginoa is facing several weeks on the sidelines.

"We are still investigating it and making sure everything is right. As soon as I can give some more info on that, I will make sure it's shared.

“I don’t want to crystal ball it but hopefully a week or two, then we should be able to give a lot more clarity. I'm hoping he's back sooner rather than later."

Like Wakefield, Huddersfield have endured a challenging start to the new campaign.

After being forced to sit out round one due to St Helens' involvement in the World Club Challenge, the Giants were second best against the revitalised Warrington Wolves last week.

The disrupted start means the Giants, who were in the top four throughout last season, must play catch-up.

On the prospect of leaving Belle Vue with a win, head coach Ian Watson said: "It'd be huge for us.

"What we don't want to be doing is looking up the table. One reason we wanted to make sure the game was on was we didn't want to be sat with zero points after one game while everyone else had played three games and is a bit more battle-hardened.

"It's important to get two points on the ladder so we can start looking upwards and pulling some teams back."