Another Super League coach under early season pressure

The arrival of Daryl Powell was supposed to signify the start of a new era at Warrington.

So far though, the job itself is looking much bigger than first thought.

With plenty of their salary cap tied up, the former Castleford coach was only able to add a sprinkling of signings to a side that has crashed out of the play-offs at the first hurdle in each of the past three seasons.

Indeed, his predecessor Steve Price copped a lot of flak for their underachievement and he may have had a wry smile on his face as the Wolves went down to Wakefield.

Regardless of the coach, you could argue the problems at Warrington were staring them in the face.

A toy car might have created a lot of hype this season but what they really needed was a new front-line prop.

That was true even without the departure of Chris Hill, and the injury to Joe Bullock has compounded the situation.

Not forgetting too the injuries to new signings James Harrison and Billy Magoulias.

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Not good enough

But even with that pack shortage, a first home defeat to Wakefield in eight years was a surprise.

Powell said after the Trinity defeat: “We get rattled so quickly and almost lose everything. There’s a real lack of composure in the team under pressure.

“We conceded some really soft and ridiculous tries on our own line and it’s so disappointing I can’t explain it to be honest.

“I understand the frustrations of the supporters, we win our first few games and then we have two really poor home performances against Catalans and today.

“It’s just not good enough and we have to win a game next week against the same guys it’s as simple as that.

“Change doesn’t happen on its own and the challenge to the playing group is they have to change things pretty quickly.

“There’s some key things we have to fix up and it starts with me and for the players to focus on their job on a consistent basis.

“I don’t think at any point during the game were we doing anything consistently well in attack or defence to be able to win that game.”

Time on their side

Six games in to the Super League season and we head for the first break for the Challenge Cup with some coaches already under pressure.

While Powell will surely have time on his side having been brought in to deliver that elusive Super League title, the same might not be said of Leeds counterpart Richard Agar.

Agar oversaw his 71st game as Rhinos head coach as they crumbled to defeat at Salford.

Having been tipped to do well in 2022 after recruiting new half-back pair Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin, Leeds have been abject in registering just one win in six.

Meanwhile, Powell’s successor at Castleford, Lee Radford, hasn’t had the best start either.

He is probably suffering from the heightened expectations at the Tigers caused by Powell’s years of success.

Our pre-season predictions for Castleford were criticised by their fans, but they are probably not far off where most expected them to be.

They were unlucky in defeat to Wigan and their next two games will have a huge impact on the direction of their season.

It’s Leeds in the Challenge Cup on Saturday before a mouth-watering league clash with Toulouse.

While the betting markets for ‘first Super League coach to leave’ might have closed on the season kick-off, it remains a topic of much debate.

We waited until June in 2021 for the first departure, as Leigh parted company with John Duffy.

Some clubs might need to see a big change in form for that date not to be beaten this year.

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