Castleford coach Daryl Powell has called for caution over his side’s lofty position at the top of Super League ahead of tonight’s clash with local rivals Wakefield.
The Tigers are eight points clear at the Super League summit – a gap which will increase to ten tonight with victory at fifth-placed Trinity.
But Powell has stressed that there is still plenty of rugby to be played ahead of what he insists is another huge game for his group.
He said: “We haven’t won anything yet. There’s loads of water to go under the bridge. There’s ten games left and we want to play well in all of them and hopefully lead into the play-offs: that’s what we’re after.
“It’s about taking one game at a time; we’re aware of all sorts of different things but we block games up – we have done for a few years now. This is just the process of performing week in week out.”
Powell did, however, admit he was pleased to see the way his side are preparing for the big games which, of late, have been coming thick and fast.
He said of tonight: “They’re big games, aren’t they? The thing with us is we’re playing big games every week. We know that teams are coming after us but we’re in a good place and we’re playing well. It’s a local derby but it’s another big game. We’re becoming comfortable with the mentality of getting ready for the games and it’s important we keep chipping away.
“We’ve got ourselves in a good place and we’re playing well. We haven’t been as fluent with the ball in games played in wet conditions but we’ve scored points and given ourselves an opportunity to win games when it’s been tough. It’s a great place to be in when you don’t play at your best for whatever reason, but you come out on top. That’s the be all and end all at the end of the day.”
