Thursday 16 April 2015 15:31, UK
Sky Sports expert Phil Clarke ponders whether Wakefield Wildcats can defy the odds again and retain their Super League status...
What’s happened to the Wildcats? Will they ever recover?
Well, some would say that this was inevitable. Every season for the last few years they’ve started behind the rest. They’ve had fewer players, less time together and are tipped for the Wooden Spoon on an annual basis. Somehow they’ve managed to defy the odds and after two rounds this year it looked like they might do it again.
Wins against the Tigers and Hull KR gave me that familiar feeling of a Wildcat escape, but eight straight losses now looks like a pattern and not a blip. You have to go back to rounds four and five to find a match in which they were competitive. From the middle of March every minute hasn’t mattered in their games. In fact, the second half of the last four matches haven’t really mattered as the games were already decided.
So will the second half of the season matter to the Wildcats? I’ve estimated that they’d need to win 10 of the remaining 13 matches to make it into the top eight. Realistically, that’s between highly unlikely and impossible depending on your outlook. This puts the coach in a very tricky situation. What are the priorities for his team this year? I’d guess that he needs to ensure that the Wildcats finish in the top three places of the middle group of eight clubs when the league splits after Round 23.
I know that you have to keep your focus on the ‘here and now’ in sport and Wakefield’s best chance of being competitive is to play every game as if they need to win it to stay in Super League next season.
In some ways they have to create an artificial pressure that each match is a sudden death contest, like their cup game this weekend with Halifax, and that will give them the best hope of staying at the highest intensity with their performances.
It would be sad if Wakefield were to lose contact with the rest of the teams, although we have to accept that this happens in sport. London Broncos found themselves in the same position last year and in rugby union London Welsh have failed to win any of their 19 games so far, conceding an average of over 45 points per match.
I’ve always had respect for the way that Wakefield have battled as the underdog and hope that a good game this week in the cup can get them back on track.
It’s easy in life when your team are winning but it tests your character and determination when it appears as if all hope is lost.
I believe that they have a good young coach and some talented players. Who knows, they might even win their next game in Super League?
