Wakefield Trinity v Widnes: Captain Kirmond hoping to secure new deal

The two clubs meet at the Mobile Rocket Stadium this evening with Trinity keen to quickly get back to winning ways after seeing their 100 per cent start ended at Wigan Warriors on Sunday.

Many are expecting them to immediately do just that versus opponents who have won only two of their opening six games and were comfortably defeated at home by struggling Huddersfield Giants last Friday.

Nevertheless, veteran second-row Kirmond knows not to under-estimate Denis Betts’s side given one of their successes so far was over champions Leeds Rhinos.

“They are kind of in a similar situation to where we’ve been in the past,” he said. “They have got a very good squad and a lot of talented, dangerous players, like Joe Mellor and Krisnan Inu, but for some reason a lot of people have written them off this year.

“They have already proved this season they are a very good team when they play well and it’ll be a really dangerous one.

“If we turn up with a poor attitude they will turn us over, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“It’s important we focus on ourselves, make sure our performance is 100 per cent and, then, I think we should be all right.”

Wakefield, hoping for a fourth successive win over Widnes, have not been disheartened by that 30-18 defeat at Wigan.

Kirmond said: “Over the last couple of seasons we’ve always reacted really well to losses.

“Generally if we’ve gone on a good run it has been on the back of a disappointing defeat. That’s what (last Sunday) was.”

“We were disappointed because we don’t think we played our best.

“Sometimes that happens and you can jag a win from somewhere, but Wigan are a good team and full credit to them, they played well in the second half.

“We can learn from it, especially our discipline. We invited them into our half too much and when you are playing against a really good team like Wigan it is going to be difficult to continually defend your line, like we did in the second half.

“We have got to fix our discipline up, but I think that happens sometimes in games, especially when you are away.

“The crowd get behind the home team and we had a few calls that went against us which probably changed the game a bit, but ultimately they were the better side.”

Kirmond, who turns 33 in November and has been with Wakefield since 2010, is hoping to secure a new deal with Chris Chester’s side.

The former Huddersfield Giants’ player has had to fight for his spot this term with increasing competition at Belle Vue but he feels like he is finding his form.

“I am generally a slow starter to the season but I feel good and got the first 80 minutes under
 my belt recently,” Kirmond added. “I am competitive and I want to keep working hard. My contract is up at the end of the season and I want to nail down my position.

“This Widnes match is a massive game for us leading into Easter, which is a huge period in the season and can really put you on the right foot.”

That is certainly key for Trinity who, having come so close to reaching Super League’s top-four last time around, are intent on going a step further in 2018.

They have started well and Featherstone-born Kirmond said: “We said we wanted to win four out of our first five.

“We’ve achieved that but you can’t rest on your laurels in Super League. We say every year it is a really even competition and I think this year is probably more so than ever.

“In the first five weeks there’s been some real shocks and a lot of really close games as well.

“The moment you take your eye off the ball and settle for where you are, that’s when you find yourself on the end of a thumping.

“We will learn from (last week) and move on.”

Wakefield have recalled forward Pauli Pauli in place of Keegan Hirst and winger Mason Caton-Brown is also back in contention after sitting out the defeat at Wigan.