‘We’re always looking’ – Daryl Powell provides latest on recruitment with salary cap space available

Warrington head coach Daryl Powell has provided the latest on his side’s recruitment, insisting there’s “nothing imminent” in terms of replacing Thomas Mikaele. 

Mikaele, 25, featured in his last Warrington game against Hull earlier in April in the 34-6 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The forward returned Down Under on compassionate grounds and linked up with the Gold Coast Titans, making his first appearance against the Dolphins.

The release freed up space in the club’s salary cap for the remainder of the season, with Sky Sports pundit Jon Wells having recently linking the Super League outfit to Scott Sorensen, Josh Kerr and Makahesi Makatoa in the NRL.

In-house, the likes of Ben Currie and Daryl Clark remain without deals for 2024, while England international winger Matty Ashton recently committed his future to the club with a new long-term contract.

Daryl Powell provides recruitment latest

“We’re always looking. Where there’s salary cap space, we’d be looking. But there’s nothing imminent at the moment,” Powell told Love Rugby League.

“Obviously Thomas left, and there’s a few other bits and pieces that are coming out on players, contracts getting extended and things like that.

“The salary cap is the salary cap, it moves about a little bit at times based on different circumstances. At the moment, I’ve got nothing to report.

“The turnover won’t be anywhere near as big as last year, that’s 100% certain.

“We’ve got a couple on options and a couple off-contract, so we’re just working through that at the moment.”

Super League returns as Warrington host Wakefield

Warrington welcome back prop forward Joe Bullock from injury ahead of their home clash with Wakefield in Super League Round 11, while Joe Philbin and Paul Vaughan both return from their respective suspensions.

Gil Dudson remains sidelined with his five-match ban picked up against Catalans, while Connor Wrench is nearing his return following his season-ending ACL injury sustained last year.

“Since the start of the year, we obviously had suspensions early on, but we’re not too far away,” Powell said.

“The bench looks strong, the starting pack looks excellent. It’s as good as we’ve had I think in terms of numbers.

“Gil is still suspended, but pretty much everybody else is going to be available.”

International hooker Clark, 30, has been included in Warrington’s squad for Friday’s clash, having been forced from the field through injury against St Helens ahead of the international break.

A reoccurrence of his knee injury saw him leave the field at the Totally Wicked Stadium in Round 10, which also ruled the in-form player out of potential England duties against France under Shaun Wane.

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