Castleford Tigers: Head coach Daryl Powell putting attitude under the microsope

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Warrington are second in Betfred Super League, 10 points behind leaders St Helens and four clear of Hull.

They have a Coral Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull coming up six days after the clash with Tigers so could have their minds elsewhere, but Powell is not interested in the visitors’ motivation, or lack of it.

“I don’t think it matters, it just depends how we approach it,” he insisted.

“We can make it a really difficult game; if our attitude’s like it was against London and Wakefield we will go well.

“That’s what we are aiming for, to get after them and make them uncomfortable by being aggressive and snapping at their heels.”

Tigers kept their top-five hopes alive with a 36-16 success at Wakefield last week, but have not recorded back-to-back victories since winning their first four games of the campaign.

Powell stressed: “If we get back-to-back performances I will be happy.

“We have been a bit hit and miss attitude-wise and that’s the key thing for us this week.

“We’ve had a longer week to prepare and we have to get ourselves ready for a tough game.”

That will be the case every week from now on, Powell reckons.

“There’s seven games left and they are all key games,” he added. “This is a tough one, they are a pretty good side and we want to play well.

“We need to play well every week and have the attitude we are leading into the play-off race now. It’s pretty open so there’s no sitting on your hands waiting for things to happen, you have to make them happen.”

Tigers picked up no new injuries against Trinity and Powell will have some decisions to make before finalising his 17.

He confirmed: “We have got competition for places in the middle unit and you have to play well to stay in the team. That’s where we’ve got players who are available and not playing.”