THERE was a time in 2013 when the Castleford Tigers were fighting for their lives near the bottom of the Super League table.
Under Ian Millward, the West Yorkshire club had languished far outside the play-offs, but with the injection of new blood in the shape of Daryl Powell midway through that season, the Tigers began their journey through the ranks.
A Challenge Cup Final and a top four finish in his second year at Castleford enamoured Powell to the Tigers’ fans like few before him and the current Warrington Wolves boss has one word to sum up his time at the Jungle: consistent.
“I think it was consistent. We had a couple of years at the back end where we slipped a little bit but I thought we were really consistent,” Powell told League Express.
“2014 was my second year, we were Challenge Cup finalists and finished fourth. We generally finished in the top four and if not we finished fifth.
“2017 was an unbelievable year but we probably didn’t handle that too well the year after.”
Powell was keen to stress just how important coaching players to get better is and that he is happy with what he achieved at Castleford – even if silverware did escape him during his time at the West Yorkshire club.
“I thought we were consistent always and players got better and grew. I think that’s what coaching is about, helping people get better and being consistent,” Powell continued.
“It’s about winning things, I would have wanted to do that at Castleford. Two Challenge Cup finals one Grand Finals, and finished top of the league for the first time ever. I’m pretty happy with that.”
Now, Powell has embarked on a different journey with the Warrington Wolves winning his first two games in charge of the Cheshire club, but Castleford supporters still have fond memories of the man that took them to Wembley twice, Old Trafford once and led them to their first-ever first place finish in the league.
