Wakefield Trinity not giving up fight, insists defiant coach Mark Applegarth

Applegarth's men have lost all 15 competitive games this year to leave Trinity without a win since last August.

Wakefield’s campaign hit a new low last Sunday when they were comfortably beaten by 12-man Leigh Leopards.

"I wouldn't say it's a lack of fight," said Applegarth, who is without 11 first-team players for tomorrow's home clash with Leeds Rhinos.

"You can see in games that it's not through lack of effort. At times, it's a lack of confidence and a lack of cohesion because we've been having to change quite a lot in certain positions.

"My job as a head coach is to try get the best team possible out on that field and make sure that they keep giving it their all and we start turning that effort into points."

A Super League club since 1999, winless Wakefield must pull off their greatest escape yet after coming into round 15 six points adrift of safety.

Applegarth insists Trinity have not given up hope of retaining their top-flight status.

"Until it's mathematically impossible, there will always be that belief there and we'll be giving it everything we've got," he said.

"We've just got to make sure we give ourselves a chance. I don't think we're giving ourselves a chance because we're not putting any sustained pressure on our opposition.

"You can see the belief by the commitment of people such as Mason (Lino) and Max (Jowitt) when they signed their deals. You've got to have that belief. Every single game you go into you've got to show belief.

"The players still believe. I'm not questioning that one little bit. We've just got to start doing what we say in training on a game day. Our unforced errors and discipline are absolutely killing us at the moment."

Trinity are preparing to face an injury-hit Leeds team that are fighting to keep their season alive after falling off the pace in the play-off race.

Applegarth has stressed that every game is a testing assignment for his basement side.

"They're a quality outfit," he said.

"I know they didn't get the result they wanted at Magic but they've got some dangerous players.

"We're expecting a tough challenge as we do every week. If you look through their squad numbers, they've got some quality players in there still.

"They've got some good athletes. If you let them get their offloads away, they're a really dangerous outfit to deal with."