Daryl Powell labels Warrington performance ‘unacceptable’
Warrington head coach Daryl Powell says his side’s performance was unacceptable following their 24-18 defeat to Catalans.
The Wolves fell to their first defeat of the season despite a late comeback threat at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Mitchell Pearce scored his first try for the Dragons, while Josh Drinkwater converted all four tries.
Josh Charnley’s two late tries threatened a comeback, with Ratchford converting both. However, Steve McNamara’s side held on to claim their third win of the season.
Warrington 18-24 Catalans: Mitchell Pearce scores first try as Dragons withstand comeback threat
Daryl Powell: ‘It’s been coming’
Powell said: “That was poor. Right from the start, that was disappointing on every level.
“I’ve just made the players aware of that and it won’t be acceptable. That kind of performance has to change. In their heads now, they have to know that’s not acceptable to be honest.
“It’s been coming. I thought last week, you could see something like that was coming. The mentality has to change. I said from the start no matter who they were missing, they would have a good mentality.”
He continued: “I don’t think we’ve got going yet. We’ve won three games but I don’t think we’ve got a flow to our game.
“They (Catalans) won the ruck consistently, particularly in the first half. We’ve got to fix ourselves pretty quick and I’m expecting a response pretty quick from the players.”
Next up
Warrington travel to current champions St Helens in round five.
Kristian Woolf’s side maintained their perfect start with a 42-8 victory over Hull KR, with Tommy Makinson crossing for a hat-trick.
“Next week is as tough a test as it gets,” Powell said.
“It’s a test but a great opportunity. They are the marker at the moment and if you watch their line speed, they’re coming for you and you best be ready.
“I’ve spoke to boys and we need to get ourselves going. It’s a tough challenge ahead and we need the players to be tougher than they have been at the moment.”