Wakefield Trinity coach blasts Captain’s Challenge delays as supporters make frustrations clear

Wakefield boss Daryl Powell has lambasted the delays around the Captain’s Challenge in Super League, labelling them ‘detrimental and going as far as saying the game needs rid of it after Trinity fans made their frustrations clear during Saturday’s win over Catalans Dragons.

The feature allows a team’s captain to challenge a decision made by the referee during the game as long as the request to do so is made within ten seconds.

When such a request is made, the video referee takes a look at the incident in question, and determines whether the challenge is a successful one or not. If successful, the decision is overturned and that side retains the right to challenge another decision later on in the game.

Across the NRL over the last five years, the feature has proven a success, with decisions made by the video referee almost instantly.

But within just a few months in Super League, the Captain’s Challenge has brought more frustration than anything, and that only continued at Belle Vue.

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‘I think we’ve got to get rid of the Captain’s Challenge. It’s detrimental to the game now’

In front of their biggest crowd for almost a decade, Wakefield ran out convincing 44-6 winners to move up into Super League’s top six.

But during a Captain’s Challenge which again took a long time to sort out, some of the supporters present began a slow handclap, expressing their discontent and annoyance with how long the review was taking.

Post-match, Trinity head coach Powell was honest in his assessment of the situation as he said: “I think we’ve got to get rid of the Captain’s Challenge. It’s detrimental to the game now.

“When fans are slow handclapping, it’s got the point where I’d be asking a question about that.

“Is it helping? It might be good in Australia when they’ve got 300 camera angles, but it’s come to that point now where the fans don’t enjoy it (here) and is it right for the game? I’d say it’s probably not.

“I think it’s frustrating for absolutely everybody in the sport and that is not a good thing to have going on.

“The one thing I thought it would do was put referees on notice that they had to get the decisions right. But I just think it takes too long. It’s not functional.

“The technology is not great, and I’m not blaming the sport for that because we haven’t got the money in the sport. But if you’re getting slow handclaps, you know that something isn’t right.

“I don’t think anybody likes it. I don’t think the referees like it. I don’t think players like it, I don’t think fans like it.

“Coaches certainly, I’d say, don’t like the way it’s going at the moment. If you’ve got something like that, why are you keeping it if it’s not healthy for the sport? I think that’s where it’s at right now.”

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‘Until we have got the technology, I just think it needs to go’

The time taken for Captain’s Challenges alongside a plethora of other stoppages have seen some games in Super League this year tick past the two-hour mark.

Powell raised his concerns around that earlier this year, and on Saturday evening again reiterated: “I’ve had that quite a few times.

“I’m getting home at one o’clock in the morning at times. It’s too long.

“And I’m not bothered about that. If it’s beneficial for the sport, then fair enough, but I don’t think it is.

“I thought they got a couple wrong today as well, so it’s nonsense really.

“You’re looking and you haven’t got the camera angles to be honest. It’s taking too long.

“Let the referees do their job. Until we have got the technology, I just think it needs to go.”

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