LOSING Paul Holford to an ankle injury is bad news especially coming at a time when we've got three lads at the Commonwealth Games. But this isn't an ideal world.

We can question whether it's in our interest to have the players away but, in my opinion, it is and we've got good players to come in.

Paul Holford was one of the players of the year last season scoring 14 tries and I'm confident he's capable of doing the same again in the Premiership.

And he's not just a try scorer. He's an asset due to his unselfish work and support play and he's taught Nick Baxter a few things on how to improve his play.

Hopefully he'll be back soon and, luckily, the injury is not as bad as we first thought.

Going to Wakefield on Saturday will be a bit of a homecoming for me as it's just five miles from my home town of Normanton and I played for the club some 24 years ago.

It's not an easy place to play at because the pitch slopes and the Yorkshire crowd is very partisan.

We had them looked at during their first win against Moseley and will study the video to give us every chance of coming away with a victory.

We'll have to be on top form and eradicate our errors as they've got a good goal kicker who'll punish us if we run up another high penalty count.

I watched them play Bath in the cup two years ago when Bath sneaked through in the last minute of injury time.

College Grove has been a graveyard for many a side and will be one of the biggest away challenges we've faced in the past 12 months.

To win at The Reddings is no easy achievement and the game represents one of many hard battles.

I was pleased with the win over Coventry on Saturday as the important thing at this stage is to build a good foundation.

The penalty count was 19-2 against us which sounds like an echo from last year while other areas for improvement include ball retention.

There were a few issues with people having problems getting into the ground but, talking to the major clubs, they've had teething troubles too.

But we've now built the Gold 'n' Blue members marquee and we're about to introduce happy hours both before and after games.

There's no doubt we want to make sure we look after our fans.

Thursday, September 10, 1998.