DARYL Powell has confirmed why Mike Cooper and Connor Wrench missed tonight’s win over Castleford Tigers.

Prop Cooper and centre Wrench were surprise absentees from the starting line-up, with the former having made more metres than any other prop forward against Leeds last week while the latter scored The Wire’s winning try.

Powell’s side fared well in their absence, thrashing the Tigers 34-10 at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in their first home game of the campaign.

In his post-match press conference, Powell offered an update on his absentees on a night where he was able to welcome Toby King and Jack Hughes back into the side after knee and wrist issues respectively.

“Mike has been ill with some kind of chest infection. Hopefully he will be okay,” Powell said.

“Connor’s got a back issue that’s rumbled through pre-season. He fell in training on Tuesday and that’s rattled him a little bit.

“He’ll get a scan and hopefully there’s nothing untoward there, but it was good to get Toby King out there.

“It just goes to show the depth we’ve got – Wrenchy was class last week and there’s a real quality player developing there.

“Hopefully he’s not too bad and he’ll be available soon.”