Top Super League coach calls to ‘get rid’ of captain’s challenge after more delays
The Captain's Challenge graphic appears on a big screen during a Super League game
Wakefield Trinity coach Daryl Powell says Super League needs to remove captain’s challenge – calling it a ‘waste of time’ after yet more delays this weekend.
Trinity’s victory over Hull KR took over two hours from start to finish – meaning it overlapped with the early stages of Wigan Warriors’ historic game against Catalans Dragons in Paris.
That included significant video referee delays as well as captain’s challenge eating up more time and creating huge chunks of stoppages.
Calls are growing across the sport for the concept to be looked at and cleaned up at the very least – but Powell has gone one step further now.
‘It’s a waste of time’
Speaking after their dramatic 26-24 win over Hull KR on Saturday afternoon, Powell told the media that the concept of captain’s challenge is detracting from everything that is good about rugby league.
“We’ve got to change it, quick, for the beauty of the sport, because it’s a beautiful sport and what we’re doing at the moment is taking a little bit away from that,” he said.
“I don’t want to be damaging the sport by talking about it in a negative way but I think somebody has to make a decision that we change it.”
When he was then asked whether or not it should be cleaned up, Powell responded: “No, get rid of it. It’s a waste of time. It’s not a waste of time but it is a waste of time.”
‘This is not what we want’
Powell pointed to the late drama surrounding Peta Hiku, who thought he had scored the match-winning try for Rovers late on only for it to be disallowed. However, that decision was only made after a lengthy delay in which multiple angles were scrutinised.
And the Wakefield coach stressed that for the good of the game, it is time captain’s challenge is taken away from Super League – saying that it is clear all stakeholders are unimpressed with it.
“I can’t tell you how many times he looked at that Hiku one,” Powell added. “I’ve never seen anybody look at an incident so much in my life and it was obvious from the second (camera shot).
“You’ve got fans slow handclapping now. That is not what we want. The beauty of this game is the flow and the energy and the intensity of it. Hull KR went for a captain’s challenge on an obvious high tackle at the end to give themselves a breather to defend that final four minutes. Well, it’s an obvious high tackle.
“If you add up the time taken from captain’s challenges today what would it be? Maybe 15 minutes? It’s not good for the sport, everybody is saying it. Get rid of it. If it doesn’t happen now it has to happen for next season.”
Powell is unlikely to get his wish, however. Captain’s challenge will likely be modified over the off-season in order to speed it up, with the sport’s powerbrokers conscious there is an issue with how the concept is delivered.
