Warrington Wolves head coach on defeat to St Helens

The 24-20 defeat at The Halliwell Jones Stadium was a sixth in seven games for The Wire, but they put in a much-improved display against the defending champions and held a 20-12 lead going into the final quarter before succumbing.

Here is what Powell had to say post-match...

Q: In the week you asked for effort, energy, intensity and determination from your players. Despite the result, is it fair to say you got all of those?

DP: Obviously, the result is disappointing and the players are gutted.

But as a standard-setter in terms of where we want to be, I thought it was pretty close to a play-off game and we were right in it all the way through.

Our defensive effort was so much better, we were pretty smart and controlled with the ball, our completions were much higher.

There was lots to like about the way we performed and for us, it has to be a turning point in our season.

If we would have had that level of effort in our last three games, we wouldn’t have had too much to worry about.

I thought we were great and it was a great game – if you’re watching that as a neutral, you’re thinking it was pretty good to watch.

It’s disappointing we couldn’t get the two points but there are games in a season sometimes where you know you’ve got something that can do special things, and I think we got that tonight.

Q: There will no doubt be a frustration despite all of that that you got yourself in a winning position at eight points up but couldn’t see it through. Where do you think it started to turn against you?

DP: Alex Walmsley came back on and set up the speed of ruck for the last try.

That and us having to make different changes to the team impacted, but it would be hard to point the finger at anybody tonight.

They came up with a couple of special plays and got us with a couple of them. We had a couple of players out of position and they picked at them.

They’re a good side that find the little spaces they need, but we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the best team in the comp.

Matt Dufty's try had put Wire 20-12 up in the second half (Image: Mike Boden)

Q: You seemed to be on the end of more than one controversial call tonight – the James Bell try in particular looked to feature a clear forward pass. Are they the kind of calls that go against you when you’re struggling?

DP: There were a few tough calls out there, but referees have a tough job and I’m not going to go after him.

There’s a couple of bits in there that he’s got wrong – we’re completely dominating at the end and he gives a ball steal, which I just don’t think is a ball steal. He’s just lost it.

It’s disappointing but it is what it is. We can’t look at anything other than us knocking off a little bit defensively around a couple of bits at the end.

We just need to look after ourselves and focus on what we need to do to improve, but sometimes you do have to question what the man in the middle is doing.

Q: Joe Philbin did some big minutes in the back row, what did you make of his performance?

DP: He got pulled around the team a little bit – it may have looked like he was in the middle at times but he was always in the back row.

They found some slots in and around him but I thought he worked so hard. It was a big, big effort from him.

He’s having a jab in his shoulder every week at the moment so he’s doing it tough, but he’s one of those guys that is super-committed to the cause.

He’s a fit boy and works hard on himself physically, so it was a big effort from him.

Joe Philbin started the game in the back row (Image: Mike Boden)

Q: Do you think you’ll sleep any better after that performance?

DP: I generally sleep alright, to be honest!

I hate losing but I do feel like that was a turning point for us.

There’s a fair bit of talk around pressure with coaches as there always is when you lose games consistently, and our last three games weren’t acceptable in terms of our standard, but this gives me more confidence that we’re going in the right direction.

There’s that many pundits around these days that talk a load of rubbish and I try and ignore them as best I can, but it gives us a look at what we could be capable of.

We get some players back next week and I just don’t think we should have to talk about effort again.

The one thing you can say about St Helens is that they do that every single week. It’s the same effort in every game.

For us, what I said to the boys is that it should be a given that that’s the way we perform. You make errors here and there but it should never be about effort.