Powell: Our record counts for nothing
CASTLEFORD’S domination of Super League in 2017 will count for little when they put their season on the line tonight according to coach Daryl Powell.
The Tigers won the League Leaders’ Shield for the first time in the club’s 91-year history, finishing 10 points clear at the top, but could finish the year without appearing in a final.
They lost to Hull in the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup and in the first Super League semi-final face a testing visit from St Helens in their pursuit of a maiden Grand Final appearance.
“You’ve got to win play-off games,” Powell said. “That’s the challenge, to be able to do your job when the pressure is on.
“We’re mindful of everything it stands for. We’ve just got to turn up, be nice and relaxed, play well and put Saints under pressure.”
Castleford are coming off the back of a 48-16 home defeat by Hull and also lost in the opening round of the Super 8s two months ago to Saints, who became the first visiting team to win at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle in 2017.
“They beat us fair and square,” Powell said. “Their scrambling defence was outstanding and we’re going to have to make some better decisions on the edges and be a bit more clinical and patient because they’ve started to improve significantly. Ben Barba has add another dimension.
“We were a little bit off that night and our team might look a little bit different to what it did that night, we’ve just got to turn up and play well.”
St Helens, the 2014 champions, stumbled in the Super 8s with three consecutive defeats and only secured their place in the top four with victory in their final game at Salford last Thursday.
But they finished the regular season with three successive victories and have won 11 of their 17 games under Australian coach Justin Holbrook, including that 26-12 triumph at the Jungle.
Holbrook said: “It’s always good to have that in the back of your mind, knowing you have won there. It’s a very tough place to play.”
St Helens were in danger of being cut adrift of the top four when Holbrook succeeded Keiron Cunningham in May but the coach now has the chance to emulate fellow Australian Peter Sharp, who took Hull to the Grand Final within six months of entering Super League.
“I’ve loved every minute since I got here,” said Holbrook, who is in his first job as a head coach. “The playing group have been fantastic.
“I haven’t needed to make any changes. I was happy with the playing group, it was about them changing the way they went about things on and off the field and they’ve done that
“I’ve got confidence that we’re as good as any side here and hopefully we can show that tonight.”
Holbrook has a fit-again Jonny Lomax available while Castleford have eight players back from the team that lost to Hull, including influential scrum-half Luke Gale who could play just 16 days after having his appendix removed.