Wildcats boss wants to shake off Cup woe
KEAR COMEBACK
By ALAN GASKELL
JOHN KEAR admits he has no idea how his wounded Wildcats will respond in Sunday's “cruel fixture".
The Wakefield coach hopes his men will bounce back with a big game after their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Hull.
But, in a harsh twist by the fixture gods, they have to do it against St Helens — the team they had hoped to play in the final later this month.
Kear said: “It’s a cruel fixture after the week we have just had but at least there is no pressure on us.
“The players were very down after the semi-final because they gave their all and they were all sombre when they came back to training.
“They have worked hard all week but I really don’t know what effect the semi-final disappointment will have on them until they start playing.
“Hopefully, we will play well and even if we don't win, we will give a performance that will boost our confidence for the rest of the season.”
Kear reckons his seventh-placed Wildcats need three wins from their remaining five games to gatecrash the play-offs.
But Saints full-back Paul Wellens is determined that one of them will not come with a shock result at Belle Vue today.
He said: “Wakefield will be very disappointed at missing out on getting to Wembley and John Kear will want them to bounce back.
“A few weeks ago they were looking a shoe-in for the play-offs but recent results have upset that.
“But Kear will be telling his players to get over the disappointment and to kick-start their season again with a big game against us.”
Saints are gunning for a 17th win on the trot against Wakefield to stay in the driving seat for the Super League title as well as Challenge Cup silverware.
But Wellens admits the players WILL have Wembley on their minds no matter how much they try to concentrate on the next four league games.
He said: “It's hard not to think about Wembley because everybody is excited about going back there.
“But we were thinking about the semi-final for a number of weeks and still managed to keep winning our league games so we know what needs to be done.”
Half-back Sean Long is ill and Maurie Fa’asavalu is injured with Kyle Eastmond coming in at scrum-half and there may be a debut for teenage prop Jacob Emmitt.
Wakefield will be without winger Matt Peterson, who has a rib injury, and Jamie Rooney, who is ill.
Bradford have lost Sam Burgess, Paul Deacon, Glenn Morrison and Tame Tupou to injury ahead of today’s clash with fellow play-off hopefuls Harlequins.
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