Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell finding his feet again after long hiatus

Aside from the ongoing drama with Toronto Wolfpack, players across Super League have been getting used to training together once more this week after more than four months of lockdown.

How they would return and adapt after such a long time away from the sport has been a matter of much discourse.

However, the same applies for coaches as well.

“I tried putting a scrum down in training today when one of the players had to remind me we haven’t got them any more!” conceded Powell, with reference to one of the rule changes brought in to help aid a safe return from Covid-19.

“It is hard. You have to get tuned in pretty quickly. Obviously you’re setting the platform for coaching sessions to get the players back to where they need to be but of course you haven’t been coaching much either.

“You do get rusty as with everything. It will take a little bit of time. We started on Monday this week and we’ve had two well-organised and well-run sessions (by Wednesday).

“But from a coaching perspective we’ll be working hard to get back up to speed as quickly as we can.”

Powell has been pleased with the manner in which his players have returned to action as they prepare for their first game against Catalans Dragons on August 8.

He observed: “It looks like they’ve never been away; it’s been spot on. They’ve been sharp and accurate, look pretty fit and we’re just building up their contact which is the toughest thing to do.

“But it’s really pleasing to see them come back in the shape that they have and then to drop straight into the things that we were doing before we went into lockdown.

“They are pretty good professionals in the group that we’ve got. I expected that they’d come back okay but they’ve come back better than I expected really.

“It’s been such a long time; four months is a crazy time to be away from a sporting environment but they look like they have handled themselves really well.

“Obviously we have got to get back into performances now and that will be the real test of how it’s all gone. But our first two sessions couldn’t have gone any better.”

Toronto’s failure to return has dismayed Powell.

The Canadian side pulled out of Super League earlier this week, citing financial, travel and visa issues as reasons for being unable to complete their 2020 fixtures, plunging the competition into chaos. Castleford defeated them 28-10 in their season opener at Emerald Headingley and Powell admitted: “It’s really disappointing for the sport; for Toronto to feel like they have to do this but for rugby league as well.

“It’s not a great news story, to be honest, and it doesn’t show the game in a good light. Like others, we’ve lost the points we got against Toronto but it’s what we’ve been dealt and we just have to get on with it.

“But the hard thing for us now is we potentially could have two straight weeks without a game, just after we start the season.

“We have York in the Challenge Cup – and we don’t know if that will happen or not – and then we’ve got Toronto the week after.

“That won’t be ideal but we’ll put a plan in place to get the best out of that period and hopefully create some sort of continuity as it’s not ideal having two weeks of games and then two weeks off.”

After Catalans, the West Yorkshire club then face Hull FC before a sixth round Challenge Cup tie against Championship York City Knights. However, the RFL decided this week Championship and League 1 would not resume their campaign and it is up to those clubs still in the Cup – five including Featherstone Rovers and Sheffield Eagles – to decide whether they want to carry on in the knockout competition.

Castleford – joint-top of Super League before the sport shut down in March – were then due to play Toronto on Saturday August 29. Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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