Wakefield Trinity's utility Liam Kay hoping to play back-row to make history
IF Wakefield see winger Liam Kay in the back-row by the end of the season it will spell excellent news.
It seems odd to say because he’s never played there and that can't be ideal in the middle of a tense relegation battle. But such is Kay’s incredible versatility, it is the only position he hasn’t operated in for Mark Applegarth’s side this term - something he hopes to correct. The ex-Leigh and Toronto ace, who started out as a half-back, said: “If I count playing loose forward as a ‘middle’, which probably includes your eight and ten nowadays (props), then I’ve only not played back-row this year.
“Hopefully if we get mathematically safe I might ask Mash (Applegarth) to throw me in there just so I can complete the full team! As long as we get safe, I don’t think he’ll have a choice. I don’t think any player has managed to play every position in one season before so I might have to stake my claim for that.”
He faces Warrington on Sunday as Super League’s bottom-place club seek to pick up another two points in that desperate fight for survival. After losing their opening 14 league games, they have won three of their last five - including three successive home fixtures against Leeds, Salford and Wigan - to offer genuine hope of chasing down Castleford. Kay, 31, is likely to feature at loose forward for Applegarth’s side against Wolves but knows never to expect anything.
He said: “Mash has pulled me aside a couple of times and asked me my thoughts on things. I’ve always said I’d play wherever he wants me to play and I’m always happy to do so and do a job there. Some positions I see just as that - me doing a job there waiting for someone else to come in rather than me staying there.
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“For example, I played half-back against Wigan but that was, for me, just doing a job until the next person’s fit. But I do want to concentrate on becoming a ball-playing 13 as I do enjoy that, especially having all the big lads around me. And it does probably free up our halves a little more so they don’t have to organise the middle. They can leave it up to me.”
Wakefield Trinity's Liam Kay (PA)Recent signings David Fifita, Will Dagger and Luke Gale have bolstered Wakefield’s chances of pulling off another Great Escape. And they brought in two further loan additions this week: Catalans hooker Ugo Tyson and Huddersfield winger Innes Senior with the latter set to feature on Sunday. Applegarth accused his side of falling in love with themselves after losing 34-6 at Huddersfield in their last outing - a reminder that plenty of work still needs to be done.
Warrington were top in June but slumped to fifth after losing five games on the bounce. Kay insisted: “They have some great players and they will test us. They’re a fast-starting team so if we can stick with them for a good 20 or 30 minutes, we might be able to hang in there. But we’re fully confident we’ll get this job done and stay up.”
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