DESPITE watching Warrington Wolves lose heavily to Catalans Dragons in his first game as interim head coach, Gary Chambers was keen to take the positives.

He insisted he was "massively proud" of the effort his players put in at the end of a turbulent week following Daryl Powell's exit.

Ultimately, however, it is a seventh consecutive defeat for The Wire to put their spot in the Super League play-offs at further risk.

Here is everything Chambers said post-match...

Q: Sum that one up for us if you can, Gary...

GC: I’d say I’m massively proud, because of what they’ve gone through this week.

We asked for effort as that was all we could work on. Smarts, we need to work on – they’ve probably not bought into what we’re trying to do yet because of the amount of time we’ve had with them.

If you look at different areas in the game – we were looking strong until they gave Joe Philbin an incorrect play-the-ball. Sam Kasiano had no right to be chase back and knock that ball out at the end of the game.

As a coach, that’s all I’m looking for. We’ve got to pick out these effort areas, build on them and from there, the rest will come.

Q: Both halves seemed to follow a similar pattern in that you would start well but they would be ruthless in taking advantage when you opened the door and it knocked you off stride.

GC: They’re a good side and they’re not top of the league for nothing.

We’ll get there – we’re building something and it’s going to come. There may be some more defeats, but we’ll be strategic in what we do and build things slowly.

They’re a good team that are on a roll – they know what they’re doing and their kicking game was excellent.

We’ve got to get to that level and we will.

Q: Obviously you had to chase the scoreboard but do you think you over-complicated things a little bit with the ball?

GC: That boils down to me – that’s the time I’ve had with them to buy into what we want them to do.

Maybe they haven’t got it straight away because the time has been limited but that will come.

They are trying to chase the game but ultimately, we’ve got to give them a structure they feel they can fulfil and back up and it didn’t happen all the time.

When we hit the structure, we score off Ben Currie. When we hit the structure in the second half, we scored again. I’ll be showing them those clips.

It’s going to be a process – they’re skilled players. Do they have the energy to go with us? I think they have.

I was trying to speak to them at half time and they were just desperate to get out there, and they acted. The rest will come.

Q: Do you think if you score first after half time, the game plays out differently?

GC: I think it does.

It was a matter of calming them down at half time – loads of them wanted to speak.

If you just don’t get your rewards, you lose that bit of impetus and I think that’s what happened.

Were we smart enough? No. Was our completion rate where it needed to be? No. Was the effort there? Yes.

Q: How are Stef Ratchford and Gil Dudson after their failed HIAs?

GC: Stef was out – he did well to go back out onto the field. Gil is a lot better.

Stef had a nasty cut and didn’t know where he was, but he still went back out there. You’ve got to be a tough sort to do that sort of thing.

I don’t know what the situation was with his first HIA. He went back out there but then when I was giving the talk at half time, they said he was no good.

Q: Tom Mikaele gave you a bit of a boost when he came on the field – is it good to have him back?

GC: He got off the plane two days ago, he came in yesterday and ripped in today. He was fantastic.

The Thomas Mikaele who first came into this place was quiet and unsure. His life skills have evolved out of sight and he’s come back a better individual.

He’s always been a good person but he’s come back stronger. He’s rolled his sleeves up there.

Jordan Crowther hasn’t played since Magic Weekend and I thought he had a right go. He was unfortunate we had to stick him into centre to cover.

Q: Is the commitment to the performance the key thing you take away from this?

GC: That is the ultimate building block.

The efforts that aren’t skilful are the ones that win you games and that was there. It’s our job now as staff to try and maximise that and add some elements of rugby around that.

It was about them getting some pride back in themselves and back into this club.

We may lose a couple more games but we’re building something and we’ll go forward.

Q: Joe Bullock dropped to 18th man tonight – was that tactical?

GC: He’s had a thumb injury – he’s broke his thumb but come back. He’s got a consultant appointment on Monday.

He was similar to Matty Ashton – he could have played but then there’s potential to lose him for longer. It was a strategic one on my part.

He’ll be right for when we come back. He just needs a bit of a rest.