Wakefield Trinity Ladies’ Head Coach, Liam Harnell, offers an insight into the side ahead of Sunday’s crunch derby day match-up with Castleford.

What did you make of your side’s performance on Sunday?

Salford was quite a difficult side to play against. They were well drilled and really motivated to perform in front of their home fans. We didn’t really execute our game plan to the best of our ability, and this is something we spoke about after the game, the girls were disappointed. I thought for periods we performed well in certain areas. Our line speed and tackle tech were fantastic.

Obviously, a defeat wasn’t ideal, but how much did you learn about the squad?

Our aim was to always swap and change players to get a good look at different combinations. However, take nothing away from Salford, they were the better team on the day. We got a good look at what we need to improve on and now It’s important we learn from our mistakes and work hard in training to put it right.

We have had 14 new debutants over the past two weeks, how pleased are you with the way that they have performed in a new side?

Yes, really pleased. We still have one player to make their debut and with a couple of injuries in the same position, she may get her opportunity this weekend against Castleford. It has been a headache to try and plan for 30 players to all play in both friendlies, but a good headache to have. We have been impressed with what we have seen.

Are there any fresh injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s game?

Yes, unfortunately. We have Millen [Downs] and Steph [Spence-Hirst] out with shoulder injuries. Rachel [Eastwood], with her broken fibula. Becky [Grady] is out with a reoccurring toe injury and Dani [Swaine] is out with a long-term knee injury. However, we have depth in our squad, and this is what we will be calling on for Sunday.

Onto Castleford, how much are you looking forward to a local derby?

We can’t wait, this is the game we have been building to since the first day of pre-season back in November. We have done a lot of work this past week, and no doubt the girls will want to work put right where we lacked against Salford.

They have had a big overhaul in the off-season – what are you expecting from the Tigers?

It’s important you never underestimate any team, certainly a team like Castleford. Regardless of a big turnaround in players, the Tigers have always had a strong outfit and the girls will relish the opportunity to have a good crack at them.

How important is a victory heading into the two other Challenge Cup fixtures?

Really important for confidence. Over the past two weeks, we have had a convincing victory against Hull KR and even with the loss against a strong Salford team. We know where we fell short and it’s up to us to put it right this weekend. Against Salford, we didn’t perform to our potential and there still wasn’t much in the scoreline, which is a positive in itself.