Lessons learned will help Castleford Tigers turn the tables on Toronto Wolfpack says coach

The showdown at Leeds’ Emerald Headingley comes exactly two weeks after Toronto surprised Powell's men 16-10 in Michael Shenton’s testimonial game.

That was a warning for Tigers, but Powell insists lessons have been learned.

“I think we have a really solid understanding of the way we want to play the game, but it takes a bit of time to get that nailed,” he said.

“We learned a lot from that game. We have got a couple of different combinations, but the signs are really positive.”

Reflecting on the pre-season meeting, Powell added: “We did a lot of good stuff. We had a look at Toronto and some of our players played really well in that game.

“There were elements of our performance that were outstanding.

“Our yardage defence was great and our yardage with the ball was great.

“We’d want to be a little bit better in attacking positions and we conceded a couple of sloppy tries so there were lots of positives to come from it, but lots we want to get better at as well.”

Powell knows round one is often the toughest time to play the promoted club.

“We had it a few years back when we played Leigh at home and we did a good job that day,” he recalled.

“It is a challenge, they showed us the other week they’ve got some ability and some dangerous players so we are going to need to play well.”

“It is a challenge, they showed us the other week they’ve got some ability and some dangerous players so we are going to need to play well.”

Tigers’ meeting with last year’s Championship league leaders and Grand Final winners opens a double-header also including Leeds Rhinos’ clash with Hull.

Powell predicted: “I think it will be a good atmosphere.

“It is going to be a full stadium, there’s three well-supported teams going to be playing and it’s Toronto’s first league game so there’s a real interest around what they do.

“We have just got to focus on ourselves and making sure we are where we need to be.”

Danny Richardson, George Griffin, Tyla Hepi and Derrell Olpherts are in line to make their competitive debut for Tigers and former Leeds Rhinos academy player Brad Martin, signed to Castleford’s reserve team, is also included in Powell’s 21-man initial squad.

Liam Watts and Junior Moors are set to return from injury, but star signing Sosaia Feki is ruled out and others on the casualty list include Oliver Holmes, Mike McMeeken, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Alex Foster and Matt Cook.

Superstar Sonny Bill Williams has been named in Wolfpack's squad and former Leeds prop Brad Singleton is also included.

Toronto Wolfpack: from Ackers, Cunningham, Dixon, Kay, Leutele, Lussick, McCrone, Mellor, Miloudi, Mullally, O’Brien, Olbison, Russell, Sidlow, Singleton, Springer, Thompson, Wallace, Wheeler, Wilkin, Williams.

Castleford Tigers: from Rankin, Olpherts, Mata’utia, Shenton, Trueman, Richardson, Watts, McShane, Millington, Milner, Massey, Griffin, Blair, Smith, Moors, Clare, O’Neill, Hepi, Eden, Peachey, Martin.

Referee: James Child (Dewsbury).

Kick-off: Friday 2.30pm.