Sam Powell ‘remorseful’ following lengthy ban as Warrington’s long-term replacement plan revealed

Warrington boss Sam Burgess says Sam Powell is ‘remorseful’ over his hip drop tackle on Leigh’s Tesi Niu, with Wolves youngster Ben Hartill set to get his chance to impress over the next few weeks ahead of a permanent step-up in 2027.

Saturday evening saw Warrington beaten 24-6 by local foes Leigh at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in day one’s closing game at Magic Weekend.

During the second half of the defeat, veteran hooker Powell – who is set to hang his boots up at the end of the year – was sin-binned for a hip drop tackle which ended Leopards centre Niu’s game and may well have sidelined him.

Monday saw Powell land a three-match suspension from the incident from the Match Review Panel (MRP), meaning he will miss this weekend’s trip to former club Wigan Warriors as well as clashes against Hull KR and Leigh later this month.

‘There’s no way Sam’s meant to put Tesi in a bad position, it’s not in his nature, these things happen… Sam’s pretty remorseful’

Following Saturday’s loss on Merseyside, head coach Burgess admitted he was left frustrated by the fact Powell was sin-binned, but Catalans Dragons ace Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet hadn’t been shown a yellow card the week prior after his hip drop on Arron Lindop, which sidelined the centre for six weeks.

A few days on, his view on that had not changed, but Burgess was quick to clarify that there were no qualms from inside the Warrington camp over Powell landing a ban for his tackle.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, he said: “It was a bad tackle, don’t get me wrong, the tackle was ugly.

“There’s no way Sam’s meant to put Tesi in a bad position, it’s not in his nature, these things happen.

“Sam’s pretty remorseful, when he watched it back he was remorseful, and we hope Tesi is okay.

“I was more frustrated at the inconsistency. It was the right call to be penalised and that he now serves some time for the tackle because he put Tesi in a dangerous position.

“But it’s just inconsistency that Sam’s was a sin-bin and the week before (when Aispuro-Bichet injured Lindop) wasn’t.”

Ben Hartill gets chance to shine

After the news of Powell’s suspension, Warrington recalled young hooker Ben Hartill from his loan with Championship outfit Oldham.

Youth product Hartill – who doesn’t turn 21 until next month – has played five games at first-team level for Wire to date, including a try-scoring cameo off the bench this term in a Challenge Cup Third Round success over second tier side Goole Vikings.

The try against Goole was the first of his professional career, and he also grabbed one during his three-game stint at Oldham, scoring against Widnes Vikings last month.

Burgess explained: “Ben’s in contention (for the game against Wigan).

“It’s a good opportunity for Ben, we all think he’s a good player and he needs to play a bit of consistent rugby, whether it’s with us or elsewhere.

“There’s a couple of other younger lads underneath that are pushing Ben as well, but that’s the plan at the moment, Ben will jump into that role (to replace Powell) next year.

“He’s been growing and getting better, all the feedback has been good there.”

Hartill has a total of 22 senior appearances on his CV having represented Swinton Lions, Widnes, North Wales Crusaders, Workington Town and Oldham on loan and/or dual-registration in addition to representing Warrington on five occasions.

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