John Kear expects Danny Sculthorpe to take Super League by storm in 2008.
Wildcats coach purring over forward's influential display
Wakefield coach John Kear is predicting 2008 will be a big year for Danny Sculthorpe.
Kear believes the brother of St Helens captain Paul Sculthorpe is poised to take Super League by storm after recovering from the series of injuries which wrecked his season.
Sculthorpe, 28, impressed as the Wildcats defeated Leeds at Headingley in their Boxing Day friendly and his slimmed-down look suggested that his fitness worries are behind him.
Two astute kicks from the old-fashioned ball-handling forward brought two of the Wildcats' five tries and, with them, a smile to the face of Kear, who never lost faith in the player.
"Anybody who looked at his body shape today will see that he has done a lot of hard work," said Kear.
Looking better
"He has shed the kilos and he's looking much better at this stage of the season than he was last year."
Sculthorpe managed only 10 appearances last season - all of them from the bench - but Kear expects him to feature much more regularly next year.
"We have got a number of trial games and Danny will probably feature in those because he gets better the more game time he gets," Kear said.
"He will get plenty of game time in this trial period so hopefully when we start the season he will be raring to go."
Wakefield flattered to deceive last year when they failed to make the play-offs despite leading the table in March but, with seven new faces on board for 2008, Kear is expecting his side to challenge strongly for a top-six spot.
"We had a bigger squad last year but we have more Super League and potential Super League players this time and that allows you to cope better with injuries and loss of form," he said.
Five of Kear's new signings all made their bows at Headingley, with former Widnes winger Damien Blanch scoring a brace of tries and ex-Castleford scrum-half Danny Brough tormenting Leeds with his clever kicking game.
With Sculthorpe, Sam Obst and new recruit Brad Drew also at his disposal, Kear is excited by his team's tactical kicking ability.
Varied game
"Defences are really tough now to break down and, if you have got an astute and varied kicking game and a number of people who can put kicks in, it's a good string to your bow," he said.
"We scored quite a few tries last year from kicks and we will hopefully equal that this season because we've got some ability and talent in that department."
Leeds, who fielded just six members of their Grand Final line-up, never recovered from the shock of conceding three tries in a seven-minute spell early in the game but coach Brian McClennan was upbeat after his first match in charge.
He insisted there were more positives than negatives and singled out two-try winger Ryan Hall from the junior ranks and prop Ryan Bailey from the experienced forwards for special praise.
"We gave the young guys some experience," he said.
"It was good for them to get a taste because obviously it's pretty tough when you have the internationals they have here."
Elsewhere, Super League sides struggled against National League opposition.
New signing Michael Korkidas was an instant hit with Castleford fans, scoring a try and helping set up another for fellow debutant Tom Haberecht in a 24-24 draw with Featherstone at The Jungle.
Half-backs Anthony Thackeray and Joe Westerman also collected tries for the Tigers, whose line-up included eight members of their Super League squad.
Former Castleford full-back Tom Saxton grabbed two tries on his debut for Featherstone, who recovered from 12-0 down after 17 minutes to lead 24-18 in the second half.
Warrington, who held back their four new signings, suffered a shock 38-18 home defeat to Leigh, despite fielding captain Lee Briers and established first-teamers Paul Rauhihi, Chris Bridge, Ben Westwood and Rob Parker.
A near-full strength Leigh outfit were good value for their victory, however, with winger Dave Alstead grabbing a hat-trick of tries and second-row forward Lee Doran touching down twice.
