Warrington Wolves v Castleford Tigers: Lee Radford not concerned about Daryl Powell factor

It is only round two of the new Betfred Super League season but already we have an eagerly-awaited fixture pitting the new and old coaches of the Wheldon Road club against one another.

Powell, of course, spent almost nine years at Castleford, transforming their fortunes from relegation candidates to one of the competition’s most dangerous sides before moving to Warrington in the autumn.

Radford, in contrast, has yet to even rack up nine days of his debut campaign with the West Yorkshire club.

There will be plenty of noise around Castleford facing their popular erstwhile coach in the televised contest but, asked if it changes anything for him, Radford insisted: “No. Not from me.

“We’ve done very little on Warrington this week.

“We’ve concentrated on where we can be better: those energy areas like line speed, work from marker, kick pressure, kick chase, where – if we’d have been a little bit better against Salford – we could have got a result.

“That’s what we’ve been looking at.”

Castleford fell 26-16 at home to Salford on Friday, an anti-climax for Radford’s first game in charge, especially as it was in front of a sell-out 10,500 crowd at Wheldon Road.

Given he has made such sweeping changes at the club, though, teething problems were always inevitable.

He expects an improved display this evening against opponents who had to work hard to beat 12-man Leeds Rhinos at the weekend.

Tigers hooker Paul McShane, meanwhile, is one player who has crossed both coaching eras.

He was signed by Powell from Wakefield Trinity in 2015, and went on to help Castleford finish top two years later before earning both the Steve Prescott Man of Steel and England honours.

McShane, though, has been made captain by Radford and signed a new long-term deal.

On Powell, he said: “I’ll always be grateful for all the time he spent and the hard work he put into me. I’ve got the utmost respect for him as a coach and as a bloke; I can’t say more than that.”

But does knowing the 56-year-old so well help Castleford’s plans to bring down Warrington this evening?

McShane, 32, replied: “He’s a smart coach is Powelly and he’s got a good coaching staff that he’s taken over there with him (including assistant Ryan Sheridan).

“I think they’ll change (tactics) each week depending on the opposition. You can’t really read too much into what they are going to do. You can look at their individual players and what their key traits are. But, structurally, anything could happen.”

Warrington are without their own England hooker and former Castleford player and Man of Steel winner Daryl Clark.

Nevertheless, that means England Knights rake Danny Walker gets a chance to impress against McShane this evening in what could be a key battle.

McShane added; “Warrington were in a good, tough game last weekend.

“Their first try against Leeds shows you can’t knock off as they can score from anywhere. They have internationals all over the park. We were really disappointed with our result and performance against Salford, especially being at home in front of a great crowd like that.

“We were a little rusty and lacked a little intent. We’ll look to improve that this week.

“The plan we had was a good plan but us as individuals we were off the pace. It’s an easy fix.”

Meanwhile, scrum-half Danny Richardson must see a specialist about the neck injury he suffered against Salford.

Radford conceded: “It’s not looking great.”

Gareth O’Brien is likely to come in to face his hometown and the club where he started his career but forwards Nathan Massey (hip) and Adam Milner (back spasm) are still unavailable for at least another week.