Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers: Daryl Powell confident Tigers can turn poor form around

Powell expects a reaction after Rhinos were booted out of the Coral Challenge Cup by Championship outfit Bradford Bulls last week, but Tigers are on a four-game losing run – including last Friday’s 28-12 Cup defeat at Hull – and he is more concerned about what they do.

“They will be really disappointed with where they sit,” Powell said of Leeds. “Performance-wise they’ve been inconsistent, they are near the bottom of the table and they obviously had a disappointing loss in the Challenge Cup like we did.

“They’ll be looking to respond and we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ve got to play well – I don’t think it matters where we are or who we’re playing against, if we play well we are confident we can put them under pressure.”

Tigers have slipped to seventh in Betfred Super League and Powell is looking for a big improvement on last week’s “criminal” performance. He stressed: “Ultimately we’ve got a season to get into and we need to get after it. I am confident we will do that. The first signs should come [tonight] and we’ll take it from there.”

The current sequence of results is Tigers’ worst in one season under Powell and he has appealed for patience from fans.

He said: “I probably get hurt as much as anybody when we lose a game. I know the fans do as well and this is a big game for them. They won’t be particularly happy with our form at the moment, but I’d ask them to look at what’s happened to us and have a bit of patience.

“We are working hard to try and turn it around. We just need to be positive and get after it.”