“It’s bulls**t” – Daryl Powell’s final words on player effort before being sacked by Warrington Wolves

Yesterday marked the end of another superb round of Super League in which we saw a typically intense St Helens and Leeds Rhinos clash, the Battle of the Borough between Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards whilst Sunday treated us to one of the performances of the season from Wakefield Trinity as they hammered Warrington Wolves.

Whilst it’s true that Wakefield deserved immense praise, it’s also true that there have to be questions asked of Warrington and their total collapse once the game got beyond the ten minute mark.

One major question was answered last night and that was what is going on at Warrington? The answer – hire a new coach. That’s because at 9pm last night the Wolves announced via their website that they had parted ways with Daryl Powell and would begin the search for a new head coach immediately.

You can read the statement surrounding Powell’s sacking here but this article examines what went wrong in those last few hours.

It started when Trinity scored after nine minutes through Innes Senior before a Kevin Proctor push over was sandwiched between Seniors’ first and second, that second coming in the 17th minute with just an eight minute period seeing Warrington fall out of the game completely.

That wasn’t all as Senior went on to complete a first half hattrick on his second loan spell of the season at the club, before Trinity hammered in another four tries in the second half to run away as 42-6 victors.

The drastic drop off in form is something that many fans, both neutral and Wire, are asking with Warrington’s’ first eight matches all being wins, compared to just three wins in twelve since then.

Daryl Powell was asked about his side’s slide down the table which has now seen them drop to sixth, Hull KR moving ahead of them today on points difference given the huge margin of defeat.

Powell responded swiftly: “If we keep doing that,” before elaborating.

“We’ve lost away to Wakefield and Cas and Wakefield played well today but if we want to be winning the competition then it’s inexcusable. You’ve got to win these games.

“We’ve had a smack on the nose and then that’s it, ‘we’re in trouble’. It’s bulls**t for a rugby league team that that you can’t hold yourself together and do your job.”

It’s Warrington’s sixth consecutive loss and with top of the table Catalans Dragons visiting the Halliwell Jones next week against what will likely be a head coach-less Wire side, it’s sure to be a stiff test.

Powell also called on more player accountability in what would be his final presser.

“We just talked about it there, so the players talking about themselves, themselves, sorting themselves out,” Powell explained.

He continued: “Ultimately, a coach coaches a team, coaches a player, then a player has self-determination to go, ‘this is what I’m going to do’.

“So the big part of it is player ownership. That’s what the boys are talking about in there, is more ownership, ‘that’s what I’m going to do to get myself back where I need to be’ etc.”