Castleford Tigers boss refuses to get carried away after 'great start'

Almost a month into the season Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell is “very pleased” with his side’s progress so far, but insists there is no room for complacency.
Daryl PowellDaryl Powell
Daryl Powell

Tigers will go top of Betfred Super League, for a couple of days at least, if they win at Hull KR tomorrow.

“Having had so many players missing I think it has been a great start,” Powell said of his side’s three wins from four games so far.

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"On the back of travel and short turnarounds we have done a pretty good job to be where we are.

Paul McShane gets the ball away during last week's win over Wakefield. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.Paul McShane gets the ball away during last week's win over Wakefield. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.
Paul McShane gets the ball away during last week's win over Wakefield. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.

"There is loads of improvement in us but our attacking game is starting to come.

"You can see the amount of opportunities created, we didn't take them all, but it was pretty significant.

"When we start to pull those combinations together and take those opportunities, I think we are a really dangerous team.

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"Defensively there are some really good things being shown by us. Some improvement is needed, but that is always going to be the case in any game, never mind the start of the season."

Powell, though, stressed: “"I am not going to get carried away.”

He warned: “Our next block of games is going to be a really challenging one.

"We have Warrington and St Helens in there, Salford away and Hull KR away, they are all very difficult games.

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"We know we need to step up, but we have given ourselves a bit of a platform to build on.

"You can't win anything at the start of the year but you can put yourself under a bit of pressure but we have done really well to put ourselves in a strong position."

Though Hull KR Rovers have lost their three games since beating Wakefield Trinity in round one, Powell reckons Tigers’ defence will have to be on top form tomorrow.

"Their philosophy and [coach] Tony Smith's philosophy is that they are generally going to move the ball,” he said.

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“They are very reactive, they don't think they have got to win games around the middle so they are playing in wide areas.

"They are going to move the ball a lot and try and cause you trouble with offloads and reactive play.

"We know exactly what we have got to do. You can't switch off at any point, you need to stay focused.

"Everybody needs to do their job defensively, they have got some tricky players and we need to focus on ourselves and make sure there is a real emphasis on our game and if we do that we will go into the game with some confidence.

"Hull KR is and always has been a difficult place to go and we won't look past that we have to play right on top of our game to win it."