Roe forced to raise the spirit level

If any further justification were needed for the existence of relegation from Super League, today's match between Warrington and Wakefield should provide it.

What would otherwise have been an unappealing irrelevance now shapes up as a full-blooded battle, with both sides desperate for the points that could keep them afloat at the end of the season.

Just to add extra spice, Warrington, on four points, one place off the bottom, are in the process of depriving Wakefield, two points and one place better off, of arguably their two best players. The Australian half-back Nathan Wood has already completed his transfer, although an agreement between the clubs prevents him playing today; the promising young centre Ben Westwood joined for £60,000 on Friday.

To say that the Wakefield coach, Peter Roe, is unhappy about this turn of events is putting it mildly, and he will have no qualms about using Warrington's transfer tactics to ratchet up the motivation among what remains of his squad. "They've set out to destabilise us and they've done a good job," he says. "I don't mind using it for extra motivation – I will definitely be doing that."

Roe hopes to use the money – Warrington have already paid £30,000 for Wood and Westwood is transfer-listed at £120,000 – to strengthen his side, but he will have to manage today with what he has left.

The spirit within the squad – the strongest, so far, of the three relegation candidates – will again be crucial. The question is how much that spirit will have been damaged by their inability to hang on to two of their most important players.

While Warrington and Wakefield are slugging it out at Wilderspool, the only side below them in the table will be under new management at Castleford. Karl Harrison takes over as coach of Super League's bottom side, moving from his role as assistant coach with the competition's leaders, the Bradford Bulls. That is a career decision which has surprised many, but the former Great Britain prop is impatient to test himself as a head coach.

"Bradford are the best- coached side in the country, but that doesn't happen in a season," he says. "Given time and investment, Salford can be up there too."

Some cautious investment there might be, but time is one thing that is in short supply. The competition reaches its halfway stage today and Harrison admits that he has targeted certain games that his new side must win during the rest of the campaign if they are to stay up. "It's really the results against the teams around us that matter," he says, admitting that he will also have one eye on the Warrington-Wakefield score, but Castleford's home form this season is sufficiently patchy to make them vulnerable to a side who need the points.

Cas have also had a short turn-around following their demoralising defeat at Widnes on Tuesday night, so the prospect of catching them below their best is a real one.