Catalans Dragons v Wakefield Wildcats: Super League preview
Last Updated: 16/07/16 10:37pm
Wakefield coach Chris Chester insists his team will not be relaxing despite securing their Super League survival with two games to spare.
After finishing last in Super League 2015, Wakefield were forced to beat Bradford in the inaugural £1million match at the end of the season to avoid relegation, but there will be no repeat for the Wildcats this year as they were guaranteed a top-eight spot after Hull KR lost Thursday's Hull derby.
Chester says he is delighted the pressure is off as he prepares his side to take on Catalans Dragons in Perpignan on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
"There's obviously a really good mood in the camp after last night's result," said Chester.
"There's 17 happy faces in the team and I'm a happy coach as well. I think it's a fantastic achievement for everybody involved.
"When I first came, Michael didn't want to be involved in that £1million game this year and I'm pleased for him that he'll be able to sit down and watch and enjoy the game.
"Now the pressure is off, we can go and enjoy ourselves on Saturday and hopefully put in a very good performance and come away with the win.
"It's taken a lot of hard work to get where we are and the focus now is to try and get as high as we can in the table. Sixth spot is still available."
Wakefield complete the regular season with a derby against Castleford on Sunday week before taking on Warrington for a place in the Challenge Cup final.
Chester, who took Hull KR to Wembley last year, says his preparations for the semi-final won't wait.
"We'll use these next two weeks to play some guys into a bit of form and give some minutes to players who haven't played that long," he said.
"We won't be taking our foot off the gas. We know we've got a big semi-final coming up but we also want to finish as high as we can."
Wakefield will have to bid for a place in the final without their leading try-scorer Tom Johnstone, who is to have surgery on Saturday on a displaced fracture in his tibia, while prop forward Chris Annakin has been ruled out for the season after sustaining a serious knee injury in a tackle from Wigan loose forward Sean O'Loughlin in last week's 22-18 defeat.
"Chris is not good," Chester said. "He's ruptured his medial ligament in his knee.
"The first things that go when you get knocked out are your legs and his knees buckled. Unfortunately for Chris, he'll miss the rest of the season and the semi-final which he is devastated about."
O'Loughlin was given a one-game suspension after the disciplinary tribunal took into account his previous unblemished record as well as his guilty plea.
Chester labelled the system "farcical" and on Friday called for greater consistency in the disciplinary procedure.
"It's not a dig at Sean O'Loughlin," he said. "Sean is a great kid and he actually rung Chris Annakin up and apologised. He didn't need to do that so I thank 'Lockers' for that.
"I just think it was a bad challenge for which I thought they got the grading wrong. I think there needs to be more consistency with the charges. That's been my gripe for a long time."
Catalans Dragons: Lucas Albert, Jason Baitieri, Julian Bousquet, Jodie Broughton, Todd Carney, Rémi Casty, Alrix Da Costa, Vincent Duport, Morgan Escaré, Ben Garcia, Tony Gigot, Justin Horo, Antoni Maria, Willie Mason, Romain Navarrete, Eloi Pelissier, Pat Richards, Dave Taylor, Fouad Yaha.
Wakefield Wildcats: Tinirau Arona, Joe Arundel, Matty Ashurst, Jordan Crowther, Liam Finn, David Fifita, Craig Hall, Max Jowitt, Danny Kirmond, Reece Lyne, Jacob Miller, Jonny Molloy, Scott Moore, Nick Scruton, Mickael Simon, Mikey Sio, Anthony Tupou, Bill Tupou, Jason Walton.
Watch Catalans v Wakefield live on Sky Sports 3 HD on Saturday from 4.55pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.