Warrington Wolves boss speaks to angry fans after defeat

As Powell and the players went over to thank the travelling fans following their 35-22 loss, they were met with boos and anger from Wire supporters.

That prompted the head coach to go to the away end to have a discussion and after several minutes, he left to a smattering of applause.

In his post-match press conference, he revealed what was said.

Warrington Wolves boss on chat with angry supporters

“I was just asking them to listen to me really as I’m always open to talking to people,” he said.

“I told them I’m working seven days a week to try and get us to a place we want to be.

“There were some pretty frustrated and irate people there but I was just telling them I’d tell them anything they wanted to hear.

“I’m not going to walk away from fans – I’m happy to talk to anybody.

“It’s not going the way I want it to go – it is one week and then the next week it’s not, that’s where we’re at.

“I came here to change the culture and create a championship-winning team. I’m still doing that.

“The fact remains a lot of things needed to be changed and I’m still going through the process.

“There was a young lady who was pretty frustrated and was saying she shouldn’t be paying money to watch that, but I was just saying to give me time.

“It would be pretty hard to say one pre-season was going to turn around what I believe were the things that needed to be turned round.

“This is a tough gig but I’m telling the players to learn the lessons and get better.

“The chances are we’re not going to win the comp next year, but I really do think we’ve got a great chance of winning it next year.”

Due to the team’s poor form throughout the year, increasing numbers of supporters are questioning Powell’s position at the club.

It is understood the club remain fully behind their head coach, who has embarked on an extensive overhaul of his squad for both this season and beyond.

He also highlighted the young players in his side, using half-back Riley Dean as an example.

Starting in the halves, his edge was frequently targeted defensively before he was withdrawn with a head knock early in the second half.

Dean subsequently failed his in-game head injury assessment, ruling him out of Friday’s clash with Hull Kingston Rovers under concussion protocol.

“Bear in mind, we’ve got Riley Dean, Matty Nicholson, Josh Thewlis, Matty Ashton and the like – young players in this team that are being given opportunities that everybody talks about,” Powell said.

“I’m here to tell you that you’re going to have performances that are up and down.

“Riley for example will learn some key lessons as a half-back about how you start a game today, but I’m not going to throw him under the bus.

“He’s a young player who’s developing and growing and he’ll learn a lot from that.

“People are saying “give Riley Dean a go” and I’ve been saying to Riley that he’s going to get some opportunities.

“He’s got to be able to take them but we all need to understand that there are going to be some lessons for him.”

On those calling for his departure, he said: “I think it would be very harsh to say I should go now. I’m working exceptionally hard.

“If you look at our recruitment, we are bang at that and I believe we’ve got what we need moving forward.

“What we’ve got to get is this team straightened up and playing consistently from week to week, which is what we’ve not got.

“That’s not through lack of effort or players not working hard. We are up and down confidence wise.”