Wakefield will board the flight to Portugal in the early hours of Sunday morning with a spring in their step after completing the first half of an impressive pre-season campaign.
The new-look Wildcats followed up their 26-18 Boxing Day win over champions Leeds with a 44-0 rout of Bradford at a rain-sodden Belle Vue and will now spend five days in a warm-weather camp on the Algarve to fine-tune their preparations for Super League XIII.
Coach John Kear is not getting carried away by two friendly wins, pointing to the fact that both Leeds and Bradford fielded youthful opposition, but admits that it's so far so good.
"Over Christmas and the New Year, 25 players have had a hit-out and we've only really picked up one injury, which was Paul Reilly on Boxing Day," he said.
"The players are in good spirits and they can see that what they have been doing in training works on the field."
Kear, who has lined up trial games against Featherstone and St Helens for their return from Portugal, has managed to blood all seven of his close-season signings and he was particularly heartened by the display of Australian duo Tony Martin and Brad Drew in last night's eight-try romp.
Martin, the former London Broncos and New Zealand Warriors centre, contributed 14 points with a try and five goals in his first appearance in a Wakefield shirt while ex-Huddersfield hooker Drew was typically industrious in his first outing.
The most eye-catching performance, though, came from ex-Bradford prop Richard Moore, who was arguably the most improved player in Super League in 2007 and last night made the transition to the second row, scoring a brace of tries in the process.
Bradford assistant coach Basil Richards singled out Joe Vagana, Paul Sykes and Semi Tadulala, the only three players expected to be in the Bulls side when they return to Belle Vue for the opening game of Super League XIII.
But he was also full of praise for the youngsters, several of whom are still part-time players and battled to the end in difficult conditions.
"The kids loved it and did a wonderful job for us," said Richards. "The scoreline didn't reflect the effort they put in."
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