Wakefield's John Kear tells Australians to stop whingeing about Easter

Wakefield Trinity are facing the sternest challenge to their promising start to the Super League season at the toughest possible time but their coach, John Kear, would have it no other way. Kear's Trinity team, who have again surpassed modest pre-season expectations to establish themselves in the top six with six wins out of nine, play the leaders, Wigan, at the DW Stadium in their second game of the Easter weekend, one of the highlights of an intriguing full programme of seven fixtures tomorrow. Many of the Australian coaches in the Super League have complained about the unfair demands of two fixtures in the space of four days, and they were joined last week by Adrian Morley, Warrington's veteran England prop, who described the Easter Monday programme as "a lottery". But Kear, the oldest of the five British coaches surviving in the Super League, has no time for such grumbles. "The administrators do the fixture list and as employees of our clubs it's up to us to get on with it," he said. "We pander enough to the Australians but having games on Good Friday and Easter Monday is a British tradition and, as long as the British public enjoy it enough, that's the way it should stay." That will be music to the ears of Ian Lenagan, the Wigan chairman, who even believes that British rugby league should consider introducing more double-headers on other Bank Holiday weekends. "To be honest, I'm tired of hearing the complaints," said Lenagan. "This is a game that needs to make money and the majority of that money comes through the turnstiles. That means putting games on at times when people want to watch them and the prospect of a good game of rugby on Easter Monday afternoon is a great tradition. "I hear the complaints from various Australians, but they never seem to consider the demands made of their leading players during the State of Origin series, when they have been known to play on consecutive days. Rugby players are tough people, and having two games in quick succession is a further test of that toughness, in addition to the ability of clubs to manage their squads under the salary cap." Michael Maguire, the Australian coach Lenagan recruited from Melbourne last winter who has led Wigan through their best spring for more than a decade, could be missing five first-teamers if George Carmont and Paul Prescott are ruled out by the injuries they suffered in the bruising Good Friday win at St Helens, as Mark Riddell, Andy Coley and Harrison Hansen are definitely out. But Cameron Phelps is expected to return at full-back and Maguire could also hand a debut to Andy Farrell's cousin Liam, a 19-year-old second-row. Wakefield have included the former Wigan forward Paul Johnson in their squad for the first time since he suffered a head injury against the Catalans Dragons in February, and Kear will also look to the youngsters Luke George, James Davey, Ben Gledhill and Dale Ferguson to freshen up his team. Warrington have hinted at a return for their playmaker Lee Briers in the day's other meeting of two of the top six at Hull, for whom Jordan Turner, Danny Washbrook, Mike Burnett and Sam Moa could all play after missing Friday's derby win at Hull KR. Rovers could be at a disadvantage at the Stoop against a Harlequins team who should be fresh after their first scheduled game of the Easter weekend against the Crusaders was postponed last Thursday because of a waterlogged pitch in Neath. Brian Noble will hope that also works to the Welsh club's advantage when he returns to Bradford, where the Crusaders will have their latest signing from rugby union Clinton Schifcofske making his debut at full-back. Keiron Cunningham and Chris Flannery are major doubts for St Helens' trip to Castleford, but Leeds have Carl Ablett returning for the evening's televised game against the Catalans Dragons in Perpignan that rounds off Super League's hectic Easter weekend.