Daryl Powell’s Warrington Wolves are now struggling. They started the season with eight wins in a row but are struggling at the moment having lost to Leeds Rhinos last night.
The Wolves lost 22-6 to the Rhinos who led 16-0 after 15 minutes. The Rhinos notched tries through Ash Handley – who scored two – Sam Walters and Richie Myler. Warrington’s only try came from Matty Ashton.
The Wolves have only won three of their last nine league games. They have lost the last three of their last four against Castleford Tigers, Wigan Warriors and Hull FC.
The fans are beginning to get disgruntled so Powell sent the fans a message after the defeat, in an interview with Serious About Rugby League.
“I’d say to the fans that it’s a long season. Wigan’s fans weren’t happy a few weeks ago, Leeds fans weren’t happy a few weeks ago, Huddersfield fans haven’t been happy all season, St Helens fans weren’t happy after being where they were after winning the World Club Challenge.
“It’s Super League, isn’t it? I want everybody to be happy and for us to be flying, but there’s a lot of moving parts in a rugby league team.”
He admitted he understands the fans’ struggles but told them that the club is working hard.
Powell’s side are still in the top six: “I understand it but all I can do is work hard, and good things generally happen around hard work.
“We’ve all got a responsibility. The players have got a responsibility to get themselves on form, I’ve got a responsibility to piece the team together and get us flowing.
“It’s not hard to see there’s a lot of movement in the team at the moment, which isn’t conducive to us being as consistent as we’d like to be at the moment. It’s obvious.”
Despite their position firmly still inside the competition’s play-off places, Warrington fans were not shy in sharing their disapproval at the team’s performance in the home loss to the Rhinos.
The dip in form follows a superb start to the season which saw the Wolves win their opening eight games to sit clear at the top of the Super League table – a start to the campaign which was much-needed for Powell after a dire first season in charge in 2022.
Going more into the current position of the club, Powell detailed his constant chats with the club’s Chief Executive while also trying to explain what he believes is behind the current drop off.
“Karl Fitzpatrick and I talk all the time – we were talking this week about recruitment, but he probably wouldn’t be talking to me if that was the case.
“We have to keep level heads and keep ourselves focused on what we’re trying to do. Our squad at the moment is not massive and we’re trying to tidy that up, but there’s nothing of that regard at all.
“The performance is just way off. We’ve got ourselves into a situation where we’re trying to piece a team together. The half-back combination is different again – we get Josh Drinkwater back but he’s got a different partner and so there’s things in there that are difficult for the team.
“But we’re not defending well and we’re not great with the ball. We’re just trying to find ourselves at the moment and we’re finding it tough but that was disappointing tonight.
“I was talking with Ryan Sheridan about where we’re at and what we need to do to get ourselves moving back in the right direction.”
