Warrington Wolves: Daryl Powell keen to recruit after ‘disappointing’ Josh McGuire saga leaves club ‘light in the middles’
Warrington head coach Daryl Powell is keen to recruit after being left short in the middles following the horror Super League stint from Josh McGuire.
McGuire, 33, was released from his two-year contract earlier this week after his second suspension for unacceptable language.
The ex-Queensland star was hit with a massive 12-match ban for his second Grade F charge after Leigh winger Josh Charnley reported the Wolves star for making a slur about a family member during the Super League Round 13 clash.
McGuire had already served a seven match ban for unacceptable language during pre-season against Adrian Lam’s Leopards, forcing the player to wait until Round Eight to make his competitive debut.
And after much speculation, the ex-Australia and Samoa international was axed by his Super League club this week, having made just seven appearances and accumulating a total of 19 match suspensions.
“The water is under the bridge, it is what it is,” coach Powell said.
“I’m disappointed that it came to this.
“We wanted him to come and be a huge part of what we were going to do and that hasn’t materialised for different reasons that everybody knows.
“I am disappointed. It leaves us really light in the middle unit and that has an impact on everybody else which is a further disappointment for us.”
Daryl Powell ‘looking hard’ into the recruitment market
McGuire’s departure opens another overseas quota spot at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, with Thomas Mikaele having also left the club earlier this year on compassionate grounds to return to Australia.
Now only five overseas spots are currently being used by Warrington, with Paul Vaughan, Matt Dufty, Sam Kasiano, Peter Mata’utia and Josh Drinkwater all contracted.
Powell insists his side are looking hard into the market on both sides of the globe, while he is also willing to trust the youngsters coming through the club’s youth ranks.
“We have got two quota spots, so we are looking,” Powell confirmed.
“We’re looking all the time, but we don’t want to make a rash decision.
“We’ve got Lucas Green who has come into the team and done a decent job as a young player coming through so I’m keen to give those kind of guys opportunities.
“They have got to hold their own in there and Lucas has done OK. He’s done a pretty good job, but we are looking pretty hard at the moment.”
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