Daryl Powell proud of injury-hit Castleford’s start to the season

Castleford coach Daryl Powell is proud of his side’s start to the season but hopes to get some of his injured players back sooner rather than later.

The Tigers suffered their first defeat of the season on Thursday night as they lost 24-10 against Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Oliver Holmes, Adam Milner, Mike McMeeken, Luke Gale, Jamie Ellis, Mitch Clark and Will Maher missed the game through injury.

Powell said: “Our right edge was poor but if you look at the respective benches, we were down on troops a bit.

“They brought [Ben] Murdoch-Masila off the bench and our bench is a middle, a back-rower, a young hooker and an outside-back, so it was a bench that you probably wouldn’t select every week if you had the option, but the boys are doing a great job at the moment. The steel and spirit in the club is outstanding.

“I think the pack are doing a phenomenal job at the minute. Wattsy [Liam Watts] has anchored the pack unbelievably well over the first five weeks and the players on the field are doing an awesome job but they need help. We’ve won four from five and if you ever you can cop a loss, today was one of those days

“We’ve been struggling with injuries since round one and we’ve been pretty depleted, but we’ve been great. We’ve had some good wins so far and there’s a bit of steel about us this time.“

Powell provided an injury update on a couple of his squad members ahead of a Super League clash against Salford Red Devils at home next Sunday.

He added: “I was hoping Adam Milner would be right to play against Warrington, but he was in a fair bit of pain with his foot the day before the game, so hopefully he will be okay for next week.

“I think Oliver Holmes might be back next week and then we will get Mike McMeeken back in April and then we will obviously get Grant Millington back for the St Helens game.

“Hopefully we will see some players come back soon which will help us.”