Warrington Wolves v Castleford Tigers – Powell expecting Wolves to bite back

One of the pre-season title favourites, Warrington were embarrassed 36-0 at Leeds Rhinos last Friday and have won just twice in their opening five games during an underwhleming start.

Impressive Castleford, on the other hand, have won four going into the Halliwell Jones Stadium contest but Powell said: “Rugby league players are pretty proud people.

“Steve Price has been an outstanding coach for Warrington; they won the Challenge Cup final last year.

“They are a quality team and have got consistent players across the board.

“Having belted St Helens a few weeks back, they have had a bit of a tough period.

“You know they are going to strike back but it is our job to make sure that is not this week.

“We know what we need to do.”

That is true; the West Yorkshire club have won at Warrington in each of the last three seasons, including last September when they ended their rivals’ title bid with an impressive elimination play-off victory.

Former Leeds Rhinos and Featherstone Rovers coach Powell, meanwhile, did not realise last week’s win at Hull KR was his 300th career victory as a coach.

“I wasn’t aware of it before the game,” said the 54-year-old.

“And then I looked at how many games I had coached and was flabbergasted by the amount. It has been a decent journey.

“For me it is about seeing the boys improve and do well as well as the consistent growth of this club.

“It is pleasing, it is nice when you work hard and get the reward but it is about the players for me and the other boys that support me on the coaching staff are fantastic.

“We are working hard to try and achieve something special this year and we have started well. But it is a big challenge this week and we look forward to it.”

“We had 15 clean line breaks at KR. That is unheard of. But Warrington will step up. We have got to be really physical and controlled with what we do with the ball.”