Only 24 hours after admitting an assault charge at Bradford Magistrates' Court and warned he could face a custodial sentence, the Saints' half back put his off-the-field problems behind him and helped tame the Wildcats at an emotionally-charged and often eerie Belle Vue on Friday.

Pryce stormed in for a hat-trick of tries on a night when more than 6,000 supporters also paid their respects to Trinity's 20-year-old back row forward Leon Walker who collapsed during a reserve team game against Celtic Crusaders the previous Sunday and died later in hospital.

"I thought the guys handled everything professionally considering the circumstances surrounding the game, " said victorious coach Mick Potter.

Potter added: "We showed our respects to a young fellow who had his life cut short by observing a minute's silence but after that we were totally focused on picking up two points and did it in a professional manner."

He also admitted that it had never crossed his mind to withdraw Pryce from his squad following his court appearance but had the player approached him along those lines he would have considered the matter.

Potter said: "Leon carried on where he had off against Leeds the previous week, carrying us around the field, cracking the whip and using the football superbly."

Saints didn't make the most auspicious start, conceding an early try, but once they got their noses in front never remotely looked like surrendering the initiative.

Wakefield simply had no answer to their power and strength among the forwards who were awesome in defence and equally lethal in attack where they built a platform for an eight-try bonanza.

Neither did the youngsters drafted into the squad to replace experienced campaigners such as Paul Wellens, Sean Long and James Roby look out of their depth.

Debutant full back Jonny Lomax made a couple of errors, which could have been costly on another occasion, but these can be put down to first-match nerves and he can be more than pleased with his 80-minute stint.

Generally, the 18-year-old looked solid in defence and was never afraid to add weight to the attack, playing a prominent role in a couple of Saints' tries.

He also denied Trinity the fillip of an early second-half score when he raced back to help prevent Danny Brough grabbing a near length-of-the-field try.

Switched to stand-off, 19-year-old Gary Wheeler continued to impress, racing in for his fourth try of the season before retiring with an ankle injury, while 19-year-old second rower Matty Ashurst, probably given more game time than expected after fellow forward Chris Flannery was allowed to return home at the interval to be with his heavily pregnant wife, slotted in like the final piece of a jig-saw puzzle and performed admirably.

Potter said: "I was extremely happy with the performance of our young blokes and the way they are settling into the team. "It is also good for the game and shows that you don't need to rely solely on old player. If you have a blend of youth and experience, like we do, then you can still win footy games."

Saints didn't make the best of openings to a game which was overshadowed by the tragic death of young Walker – falling six points behind in the hosts' first attack.

Brough's short kick caught the visitors' defence cold and Steve Snitch swooped. Brough added the goal but Saints battled their way into contention and brought the scores level after 21 minutes.

Skipper Keiron Cunningham and Jon Wilkin paved the way for James Graham to steal-in under the posts and Wheeler landed the conversion. Cunningham was again to the fore as Saints edged in front four minutes later, initiating a move which also involved Pryce and Lomax before Wheeler zig-zagged his way over the whitewash.

Trinity bounced back six minutes later to restore parity – Aaron Murphy cashing-in on some slick work from Matt Blaymire and Ryan Atkins and Brough slotting over the extras.

But the Wildcats' defence had looked shaky and uncertain from the start and was ripped apart twice more before the break. Wilkin's kick on the last tackle ricochetted off the post and bounced nicely for the supporting Matt Gidley to touch down and then a blockbusting run from

Maurie Fa'asavalu led to Lomax sending man of the match Pryce over for the first of his three tries. Wheeler landed one of his two goal attempts to give Saints a 22-12 lead but Trinity thought they had cut the deficit right on the half-time hooter when Scott Grix scored what appeared at first glance to be a legitimate try.

However, after eagle-eyed referee Thierry Alibert had called for video evidence, it clearly showed that the stand-off had knocked the ball forward on to the post before it rebounded into his hands.

Early second-half pressure suggested that Wakefield were still capable of upsetting the applecart but three tries between and 50th and 66th minutes dashed their hopes. Pryce claimed his second try from an Ashurst pass, Cunningham sent the unstoppable Tony Puletua in, and Ade Gardner squeezed over in the right-hand corner.

Gidley also landed two goals from three attempts before Trinity responded nine minutes from time with a try from Atkins which Brough goaled. It was then left to Pryce to crown a fine individual display with a third try – his first hat-trick since crossing the whitewash three times against Harlequins in April 2008.

Teams – Wakefield: Blaymire, Blanch, Gleeson, Atkins, Murphy, Grix, Brough, Wilkes, Leo-Latu, Pitts, Snitch, Ferguson, Demetriou.
Subs: Bibb, Henderson, Obst, Sculthorpe.
Saints: Lomax, Gardner, Gidley, Gilmour, Meli, Wheeler, Pryce, Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Wilkin, Flannery, Clough.
Subs: Puletua, Fa'asavalu, Cayless, Ashurst.
Referee: Thierry Alibert.
Attendance: 6,038.
Reporter readers' man of the match: Leon Pryce - 50 per cent