Powell named August's Coach of the Month

It’s the first time Powell has won the award and follows an impressive run from his Castleford side which has propelled them into the race for a top-six spot.

With voting based on Round’s 17 to 21, Powell was unanimously voted as August’s Betfred Coach of the Month after Castleford earned three huge wins away from home, alongside a sixteenth consecutive victory against local rivals Wakefield.

Powell – who departs the Tigers at the end of the year – will be hoping for a fairy tale ending to his hugely successful tenure at Castleford.

An impressive away win at Leeds Rhinos was backed up by arguably the Tigers' best performance of the year, which saw them topple 2020 champions St Helens in their own backyard – their first win at Saints in 29 years.

After a home victory against Trinity, Castleford travelled to Play-Off rivals Hull FC and produced another accomplished performance to put them firmly in contention to do battle in this year’s Play-Off competition.

Discussing Castleford’s recent form, a member of the voting panel explained: “Daryl Powell’s Cas side helped give real hope of writing the perfect farewell narrative with a run of form to put them back in the mix.

“He's done it without key players, and got his tactics spot on in tough away games against top sides such as Saints who were made to look ordinary, Leeds who were well beaten at home; while a Wakefield side on their own resurgent run under interim boss Willie Poching were beaten at home.”

Reacting to the news, Daryl Powell said: “I’d like to pay tribute to everybody at the club really, given how hard it was after Wembley our players have been awesome, the coaching staff have been great through this period, and we have given ourselves a good opportunity and challenge to get into the top six which I’m really looking forward to.”

On their recent run, Powell explained: “It has been tough, winning away at Leeds is always great but to win at St Helens was awesome, given that we at Cas hadn’t won there for a long time. That was pretty special that win, it meant a hell of a lot, to a lot of people especially the supporters of the club.”

Now, Powell is focused on ending his time at Castleford on a high. He continued: “We have a good opportunity, but we are going to need to step up in the games that remain, they are all tough starting with Salford who played great last week, so we need to be good this week at Magic. Hull KR away will be huge looking at the competition and what it could mean for the top six. These next two weeks are absolutely critical for us.”

Meanwhile, voting remains open for the Northern Try of the Month award for August – fans can have their say by casting their vote here.