Daryl Powell laments “rude-awakening” for shocking Castleford
Castleford coach Daryl Powell made no excuses after what he described as a shocking performance in their 46-6 drubbing by St Helens.
Last season’s league leaders and Grand Finalists were second best for virtually the full 80 minutes, as Justin Holbrook’s men outlined their credentials for the campaign ahead.
Powell said: “We were shocking. St Helens were excellent and they put us under a lot of pressure, but I didn’t expect such a poor attitude from us.
“We had prepared well, pre-season has been alright. It was a rude awakening, a really poor performance.
“The wingers and Oliver Holmes gave it a good dig, but I thought our pack was terrible. We’ve got a fair bit of work to do.
“They’re quiet in there. That’s not our standards and not what you come to expect.
“It’s a smack in the chops, it’s round one, and you’ve got to respond.
“It wasn’t far off the worst performance I’ve seen during my time at the club. Certainly it terms of attitude and commitment and effort, it was somewhere near the bottom.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, that’s not how we want to perform, a lot of people came to watch and that wasn’t good enough.”
St Helens turned over Castleford twice last season, though the Tigers got the better of them 23-22 after extra time in the play-off semi-finals in their last meeting.
That set up a trip to Old Trafford for Powell and his men, where they were soundly beaten 24-6 by Leeds.
Powell added: “The last two press conferences haven’t been great!
“That was shocking tonight. There’s no way of dressing it up, whether it’s the first game or any game, explaining it is never going to be easy.
“I’m hugely disappointed. They turned us over big style. We’ve got work to do.
“There will certainly be changes. You can’t change everybody, but there might be a chance after that.
“I’ll make some changes, but then you always want to give people the opportunity to fix it up and we’ve been pretty good at that in the past.”
Castleford’s next game is at home to Widnes next Sunday.