Daryl Powell: New Warrington Wolves boss ready to see squad in competitive test

Daryl Powell spent eight years at Castleford before moving to Warrington this winter

Head coach Daryl Powell is keen to see how much progress has been made at Warrington Wolves when he takes charge of his first competitive game after replacing Steve Price this past winter.

Saturday's trip to Leeds Rhinos will kick off the Wire's first campaign under the former Castleford boss.

Powell has had the squad in training since November's pre-season start, but had just one full squad friendly.

"Initially, players just need to get out there," Powell told BBC Sport.

"It's about getting a philosophy out there to the players and seeing how they deal with it - it's all right in training, and even on 13 v 13 as you don't have that same pressure [as a match].

"We saw that in our warm-up game [against Wigan], the pressure of a game is more difficult. There are some areas we need to embed and work on and refine.

"Once the players have 'got' what you've initially given them then it's about growing it from there, so that'll come.

"We're always looking to try different things, but we don't want to try too many different things initially."

Powell's switch over the Pennines was the end of an era at former club Cas, who he had taken from perennial strugglers to silverware contenders across an eight-year spell.

He is already enjoying the change of life following his move to Warrington, be it exploring the local area or meeting fans, and has also moved his family over to new surroundings.

There are some familiar faces, such as Daryl Clark, Oli Holmes, Peter Mata'utia and Greg Minikin from Tigers days, but also plenty of other talent such as England internationals George Williams and Gareth Widdop.

"I'm impressed firstly with how good a bunch of blokes they are, so down to earth and willing to learn and grow and develop," Powell continued.

George Williams is one of several international talents getting to work under Daryl Powell

"As rugby league players, they're a special group. The spine is awesome, it's sharp and inventive, and experienced as well so, from that perspective it's been great.

"It's all about delivering now, every team has been saying the same things about having a great pre-season and there are a lot of teams who have signed really well.

"After a month it'll be good to see where we are at, who's done what and what the game looks like."