Daryl Powell’s acclaim for facing criticism Warrington Wolves beat Leeds Rhinos 42–10 after satisfying demand.
Daryl Powell showered his team with compliments for managing the expectation of a strong showing in their round one matchup with Leeds Rhinos. Powell’s Warrington crushed the Rhinos 42-10 in a performance that did a great deal to show they were past the terrible campaign from the previous year.
Powell had a terrible first year, finishing ninth last year. Powell needed to improve both performances and outcomes immediately going into the season.
They ticked both of those boxes on the opening day and Powell said: “It was always going to be a pressure game tonight, we had to show we were something a little bit different, this game was put here for a reason, there was a lot of people talking about pressure and stuff like that. There was a bit of that but they handled it well.
“The guys are excellent; they have a wealth of knowledge from folks who have handled situations skillfully. The pressure we were under in the first half of the game was incredible.”
Powell thinks a significant portion of the improvements that were evident were due to the addition of new senior figures to the team.
There are a few disclaimers there. Some of the folks here are new, they just came in and played, and they didn’t cope with that scenario. However, the other guys handled it so brilliantly; they knew exactly where we had been and what we needed to do. It’s encouraging to have a bunch of guys who are old enough to know when to act and how to handle situations appropriately.”
Regarding Powell, the Wolves manager acknowledged that it was a significant outcome for him personally, but he was not taken aback by it.