From Don Fox to Daryl Powell as Wakefield Trinity legend Ian Brooke dreams of a lottery-winning moment

A week-long wait has since become a 58-year drought for a club starved of major silverware.

The infamous 'Watersplash Final' was played out amid flash floods that left the pitch resembling a virtual lake.

Ian Brooke was part of the Trinity side that day and the memories of an extraordinary afternoon have never left him.

"The first time we knew about it was when this guy in a suit came into the dressing room," recalled Brooke. "I thought someone had poured a bucket of water over him because he was absolutely drenched.

"When we went out, we saw these puddles all over the place. Some looked like mini lakes.

"When you got tackled, you slid about 10 yards. People were gargling on water and you thought, 'Someone is going to drown here'. I never played in another game like it.

"When Don missed the goal, everybody put their arm around him. Everyone in the dressing room felt sorry for him because he'd become the centre of attention. They used to show it every year.

"We took him across the road to the pub and got him a beer."

Barring a return to Wembley for the 1979 Challenge Cup final, Trinity have not come close to emulating the halcyon days of the 1960s.

Now, all these years on, Brooke sees a team capable of standing alongside that legendary side.

"I never thought the club would go so long without a trophy," said the Trinity legend. "But we rested on our laurels a little bit by not replacing lads when they were nearing the end of their careers.

"When we were at our peak, you felt you could win every game. You had that confidence in the dressing room beforehand that no matter who you were playing, you could win.

"It's like today's team with the camaraderie and everyone wanting the same thing. They have a great understanding between them all.

"They have a dominant pack like we had. I think they've got the best pack in Super League, which helps the backs. It's like (Derek) Turner used to say, 'We'll do the first 20 minutes of hard graft and you glory boys can finish it off'."

The transformation has not been confined to the pitch.

Brooke can barely recognise the Belle Vue of his childhood.

But he believes Matt Ellis has restored something far more important – the club's sense of identity.

"Probably the pitch and that's about it," laughed Brooke when asked whether he could see much of the old Belle Vue in the new place.

"When I came with my dad in the early 1950s, I used to be at the far end there (the North Stand). We used to be directly behind the posts and just in front of the scoreboard.

"Every time I come, I just remember standing there with my dad when I was seven or eight.

"There isn't much remaining. Matt is doing a marvellous job. What a great guy Matty is. He's brought the club out of the doldrums and they're flying really high now.

"In the '50s and '60s, if you mentioned Wakefield, they always used to say 'Trinity'. I think it's getting back to that now. People are talking about us again."

The old Belle Vue may have changed almost beyond recognition but the echoes of those glory years can still be heard around the ground.

They live on in the memories of club greats like Brooke and in the photographs that adorn the walls of the stadium, a reminder of what Trinity once were – and what they are striving to become again.

Wakefield's remarkable recent rise has given the Past Players' Breakfast Club a whole new chapter to chew over.

"We have it once a month," said Brooke. "The first Monday of every month.

"We get a bacon or sausage sandwich and a cup of tea. We all have a chat about our memories.

"Some lads played in the late '60s and early '70s. Some played in the '80s and '90s.

"Everybody is buzzing about what is happening at the club now."

The next meet-up just so happens to fall after Wakefield's Grand Final showdown with Warrington Wolves.

Having lived through Trinity's greatest era, Brooke knows exactly what it would mean for the club to claim a first Super League title.

"It would be absolutely brilliant," he said.

"Words can't describe how I'd feel. It'd be like winning the lottery. It would be that special.

"You need the history of a club but you need the present day as well. It's no good living in the past. If these lads win, they'll make history."