Warrington Wolves coach Daryl Powell is calling for a rethink among referees after a series of controversial calls have gone against his side.
The Wolves’ chief was disappointed with his players’ late collapse against Catalans Dragons in Perpignan, where they conceded five second-half tries in a 40-8 defeat, but he was just as concerned by some decisions made by referee Liam Moore.
Powell told League Express: “Two of the tries awarded against us were not tries. We had the same issue at Hull a couple of weeks ago, where the referee doesn’t see the ball down, like the Mitchell Pearce one tonight, and he says he’s seen it down.
“They have to do something about that; he had to make a different call there, he can’t have seen the ball down.
“The other one is a clear double-movement and it might seem flippant talking about that when we’ve conceded so many points. But some of those things are big turning points and I just think the refereeing department need to have a harsh look at themselves on that stuff and see whether they are getting them right.
“We probably would have got beaten anyway but there have been a couple of games now where I think they are calling it wrong.
“It’s for us to improve, but they also need to improve based on today’s performance.”
Warrington were just eight points behind with 14 minutes remaining at Stade Gilbert Brutus and Powell believes his players need to improve their mentality if they are to get back to winning ways.
The Wolves face St Helens on Thursday and Powell is demanding improvements from his squad.
He said, “We were in the game, just eight points behind with fourteen minutes to go and we lost our way completely.
“We got some tough calls but obviously that last period by us was poor by any standard.
“I don’t think the scoreline tells a picture of the game. At the end they got away from us and our mentality just wasn’t good enough.
“We need to change that quickly against St Helens.
“There were some real positive signs for us but it’s clearly not enough and we need to improve even more if we’re going to knock Saints over.
“We talk about it and work on it but ultimately it’s a players’ thing. They are in there and they will all go through tough moments at different times in the game.
“It’s physical, it’s fast and it puts you under pressure mentally and physically.
“Mentally we are not handling some of the situations well enough.”
Powell reported no major injury concerns following the Catalans defeat apart from a knock for fullback Josh Thewlis.
He added, “Josh looks like he might have a knee injury, although we’re not sure what it is at the moment; he’s taped up and we’ll have a look at him.”
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