Kear laments below-par effort

St Helens talisman Leon Pryce seized centre stage with a clinical hat-trick to cap a man-of-the-match performance which Wakefield simply could not cope with.

Kear had said beforehand that the result of the match was immaterial in the light of Walker's death but he was left bitterly disappointed with his side's performance, and said: "It's a terrible day to tell you the truth. We didn't play very well at all and it was most un-Wakefield-like from our previous experiences."

He added: "We were strong enough not to use the difficult week that we've had as an excuse. But we underperformed. It was a night when we wanted to perform well but we didn't."

Post-mortem results showed that Walker's death was not caused by trauma or any injury sustained as a result of playing rugby league, and a confirmed cause has yet to be fully established.

A coroner's inquest has now been opened and adjourned by the relevant agencies in the South Wales area, but Kear said the fact that the post-mortem proved inconclusive had not added to the upset.

"Not at all, we're playing rugby league - not reading newspapers," said Kear.

Belle Vue certainly paid a deeply moving tribute to Walker's memory prior to kick-off. At 7.50pm, a television interview with his parents was shown on a big screen as family members and team-mates gathered on the pitch to pay their respects before a minute's silence was impeccably observed.

Kear added: "I think you've got to take your hat off to the club. They worked very hard to give a proper and fitting send-off to one of our young players.

"I would think that every one of the players and the coaching staff will want to go to Leon's funeral (next Thursday) because he was one of us."