Wakefield & Leigh kick off play-offs in underdog tie

For Daryl Powell, his Wakefield side have done much to turn around their fortunes during his tenure.His arrival at the club, which coincided with investment from owner Matt Ellis, started the upturn as Trinity won the Championship League Leaders' Shield in 2024 and returned to Super League for the 2025 season.On their return to the top flight, the club offered no indication that they were happy to make up the numbers and they clinched a top-six place and a play-off spot at the first time of asking.They fell short 12 months ago but with some smart recruitment, Wakefield have impressed this season. They battled with top spot for much of the campaign before eventually finishing fourth - their highest-ever Super League finish."I'm really proud of the whole organisation," Powell told BBC Radio Leeds."It comes from a lot of different people, from what we do with recruitment with Millsy [director of rugby Ste Mills] to the coaching team, which is like a band of brothers almost."The playing group have been outstanding."Wakefield are not the only club with investment and momentum heading into the post-season and Friday's opponents have already broken into the upper echelons of Super League.Since their return to the top flight in 2023, Leigh have rebranded as the Leopards and competed in the play-offs in each campaign since, in addition to winning the Challenge Cup.Leopards boss Adrian Lam knows the tie is so important because of how close they have previously come to a spot in the Grand Final."[We have] finished fifth, fourth, third and then back to fifth again this season," he told BBC Radio Manchester."Two years in a row, people forget that we were 80 minutes away from Old Trafford and both at the hands of Wigan who ended up being in that Grand Final."Maybe if we had a different path then things might have been different, but we've always been striving to be better to find a different path and maybe get to Old Trafford."Despite kicking off their season with victory against Leeds, Leigh lost eight out of the following 16 games in all competitions, before winning nine of 12 games to close out the regular campaign.They were, however, defeated at home by Wakefield last week - but Lam is unmoved about such a statistic."Maybe this is the year but I've been grateful of the group and everyone's worked really hard," he added."We weren't great last week but that's OK, it's 'where there's life, there's hope' so here we go."Leigh's Umyla Hanley has just been named in his second successive Super League Dream Team - no mean feat given he has played just 17 games this season - and looks set to be part of England boss Brian McDermott's plans before the Rugby League World Cup, which starts in October.Yet the 24-year-old's successes in the Leigh shirt, particularly since moving to centre, may never have happened at all and he may have been destined for a job as a builder having seen his opportunities with Wigan fizzle out."I grew up in Wigan, I'm from Wigan, came to the first team after the academy and just didn't really get that much game time and didn't really know how to handle it as a young lad," he told BBC Radio Manchester."I just kind of fell out of love with the game of rugby. I was going to hang it up and just work on site with my mates and have a laugh. But then Lammy gave me a call and he got me down to Leigh and the rest is history."As for what inspired him not to quit rugby league, Hanley points to the camaraderie in the Leigh camp."It's when you're in the changing rooms with the lads after the game, before the game, even in training," he continued."Those kind of moments, you can't buy, and then when you perform well on the pitch as well it's just just a big bonus."In only his second season in Super League, Wakefield's Caleb Hamlin-Uele has broken into the Dream Team ranks himself.Even more impressive is that in that time he has made only 38 Super League appearances in total, but he bats away any suggestion that his excellent form is all his own doing."It's a testament to how hard I've worked and how hard everyone else behind me has worked, because it's not just me," he said."There's so many people that are behind closed doors that don't really get any limelight, but I'm grateful to have them all in my corner."Hamlin-Uele, who missed last season's play-offs through injury, also missed last week's win at Leigh, but hopes he play his part on Friday."There's nothing more I want to do than just be with my brothers on that field, just trying to get us to Old Trafford," he said.