Daryl Powell says that Warrington Wolves’ downturn in form and shock defeat to Wakefield Trinity are not a complete surprise, but the repeat of a pattern which is “frustrating the life” out of him.
After starting the Super League season with three successive wins, the Wolves have now suffered a trio of defeats on the spin.
His side folded in the closing stages against Wakefield on Saturday for the worst result of them all so far and Powell lamented “how easily the team gets rattled” and a “lack of composure” under pressure.
But the Warrington coach, who joined from Castleford Tigers ahead of this season, said that he had seen similar signs from the group in their key matches last year and that his challenge is to change those features.
“If you look at last season, for example, and you look at (their semi-final defeat to) Castleford last year in the Challenge Cup, the Hull KR (play-off) game at the end of the season, and you look at this today, it looks very similar,” said Powell.
“The team is getting beaten when it shouldn’t get beaten. I have to take responsibility for that because I haven’t been able to change, so far, the way this team is functioning.
“It’s frustrating the life out of me, but we have got a team in there. We’ve got a couple of key injuries to big men that are hurting us but ultimately the team’s mentality is the same, and it must change. It has to change now.”
Warrington were without Robbie Mulhern (concussion) and Daryl Clark (neck) last week as well as Joe Bullock, who was ruled out for a month with an elbow injury.
Added to that list is fullback Stefan Ratchford, who came off in the second half of the Wakefield loss with a shoulder injury, which is likely to rule him out of a rematch with Trinity this Sunday in the Challenge Cup.
“I’m not sure exactly how bad it is but obviously he had to leave the field,” said Powell.
“It’s an AC joint issue. We’ll have to see how he is through the week but he’s unlikely for next week.”
Josh Charnley can return from suspension for the Wolves while off-season signing Billy Magoulias could debut after having completed his recovery from an ankle injury.
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