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Posted: Thursday 23rd July 2020

Powell Q&A on squad return

Head coach Daryl Powell caught up with castlefordtigers.com to discuss his team’s return to training this week.

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Daryl, how have things gone so far?

“Things have been going really well, the boys have been outstanding. We’ve had two sessions so far and they’ve looked really sharp. The young lads have been good and the senior boys who we expect to play for the main part of the matches at the restart of the season all look in great shape and their skillsets are good. They’ve remembered how we play and what we want to do.

“I did try setting up a scrum today before realising, so things are a little bit different and it will take a bit of time! But the lads look like they’ve never been away and one thing we’ve said is that the whole squad is going to count and young players are going to get an opportunity.

“We’re working really hard to make sure they’re ready for it and we’ve really enjoyed being back in. Yesterday was another step up from Monday and we haven’t got an awful lot of prep time, so every minute counts.”

 

There’s those new rules to consider and a short amount of time to prepare now to face Catalans. How have you managed those challenges as a coaching staff?

“Well, the rule changes for example, we don’t really know yet how they’re going to impact on the British game, or what the impact will be of the amount of time the lads have been away in lockdown. What we have been able to do is stay really connected as a coaching group and that’s been absolutely vital. There was a period in the middle of lockdown when the players just needed to get away from it all and just chill out, but we’ve managed that process and as a coaching group we’ve stayed connected.

“We think we’ve planned pretty well, but we’ve stayed quite flexible for now because we can’t say for certain how the players will react to what’s been thrown at them. So far, things look okay, but the testing has been horrible! It’s a necessary evil in terms of what’s going on at the moment.

“We finished pretty well before lockdown so hopefully we can pick up from that when we restart.”

 

What’s the mental challenge for the players going to be like playing behind-closed-doors and with all the changes?

I think you’ve just got to make players aware of what that’s going to be like. We train in those sorts of conditions all the time, it’s just the actual games when you get fans around you in the stands. It’s going to be awkward playing the competition without fans to start with, there’s no doubt about that, but in the best teams that I was involved with as a player were very vocal and you sort of created your own atmosphere on the field itself. The teams that can do that will be the ones that handle it the best so hopefully we can be one of those.

We haven’t got too long to find out now so hopefully there are no further setbacks. We play Catalans first and maybe they’ve got a bit of an advantage by playing the week before we do, but it is what it is and we can’t do anything about that. We’ve just got to focus on what we do and look after our side of the bargain. Looking at the lads this week in training they’re well on their way to doing that.

 

Tactically, what can you tell us about your plans for taking advantage of the rule changes and your thoughts on the full back position following the loss of Jordan Rankin?

The six again rule is a bit of an unknown. We’ve seen what’s happened in the NRL with it being difficult to manage and in the fullness of time it may change the physical size of players in the game. The players will need to have a big engine and the subs will have a big impact on that.

In terms of full back, we’ve run with Greg and James Clare there this week. Bailey Hodgson ran there in training yesterday and did a really good job and we’ve got Calum Turner as well, so there’s some options. We’ll probably use quite a few combinations, we didn’t want the situation with Jordan to happen, but I think we can fill that role and we’ve got quite a few players who can do that job for us.

I really don’t want to move Pete (Mata’utia) from centre if I can help it so we’ll work our way through that.

 

Injuries wise, how are you looking?

We’ve got a few lads who have picked up a couple of niggles whilst training on their own and it’s been hard because your physio isn’t able to get in and have a look at them. There’s a lack of control in some ways which does make things difficult.

Jesse has a bit of a problem with his hamstring, Cheyse has an issue with his back and Daniel Smith’s got a bit of a calf strain, but we’ve got a few weeks yet so we’ll see how those guys get on.

We’re trying to get 13 versus 13 in training as much as we can so we’ve focused on getting the lads who can train back into the environment first. There’s a big cost to the club in terms of the testing procedures so that and also the furlough scheme are things we need to consider at the moment that we wouldn’t normally do.

But I think we’re okay. We’ve got Sosaia Feki, Junior Moors and Alex Foster who we hope will all be ready early on but we know it’s going to take a massive squad effort and if some of the lads miss the start and are back in a couple of weeks then it is what it is. We’ve got a really solid squad and some players in there who are desperate to play, so we feel like we can handle whatever is thrown at us, but it’s certainly going to be a tough season there’s no doubt about that.

 

After a positive start to the season with five wins from seven matches and that win against St Helens, have those players earned the first opportunity after the restart?

Well, we’ve got a couple of players who aren’t available right now as we’ve discussed, so there’s a few there who played in the Saints game who might not be ready for the restart. But I think the players who were embedded in the side at the start of the season will get the first look at it if they’re playing well, but there’s some slots available with those injuries. We’ve got a competitive squad so we’ll see what the next few weeks bring.