Daryl Powell ready to face former club Castleford – as his Tigers-supporting mates give him grief

DARYL Powell was waiting for the week his mates would give him grief and when he would be the main attraction – the only surprise is he waited until round two.

The Warrington coach goes up against Castleford, the team he supports and the team he coached for eight years before heading west.

You can be sure his phone has been beeping off the hook in the build-up to a reunion with a few faces, including some who will want him to lose.

But he admits he is coming up against a side whose approach pleases him and sums up rugby league – that attitude conquers everything.

Powell said: “I thought this game was round one when the fixtures first came out!

“My mates give it to me anyway – now there’s a decent story attached to the game. Generally, they’ve been pretty good but I know some of it would come.

“And in rugby league, you make the most of what you’ve got – which is what I tried to do at Castleford.

“It’s a massive rugby league area and in the sport, attitude is the starting point. I expect a really good one from Castleford.”

Many of the faces will be the same from Powell’s Tigers team but he believes new boss Lee Radford will have tweaked things.

And Joe Westerman, a player he never worked with, can be a real game changer.

He added: “Joe has his own style of playing – he’s a little similar to how Grant Millington was when I was there.

“He’s like an extra pivot in the middle of the field and they’ve remodelled their outside backs a fair bit.

“However, the full back’s the same, the half backs are the same and Paul McShane is still there but there are a number of differences.

“Westerman being one of the really dangerous players they have.”