Daryl Powell's first impressions of Warrington Wolves squad

The wait has been long since his appointment was officially confirmed in April but this week, he finally got onto the grass with his squad to start pre-season.

There is clearly a lot to get used to, from working with new players right the way through to getting himself familiar with the town itself.

And that, he says, is how these early weeks of pre-season will be spent – and he feels he has made a good start in getting himself across to not just the players, but everybody at the club.

The foundations, he feels, are firmly in place and now he seeks to add the finishing touches.

“There’s a couple of areas we can really improve as we work through pre-season,” he said at his first press conference as Wire head coach.

> AS IT HAPPENED: Daryl Powell's first Warrington Wolves press conference

“But it’s an outstanding club. You come into this stadium and it’s fantastic.

“I walk round the training facilities in awe, it’s such a great facility. We’re making use of that straight away.

Daryl Powell during Monday's training session. Picture by Warrington Wolves

“It’s a great club and the one thing I’ve been really impressed about is the people who work within the club and how driven they are to make sure that Warrington Wolves are successful.

“I think it’s just how well everything is done. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the field or off it, everything is done exceptionally well and my job, my role, my passion is to add to that – the way I like to work, my own style, and getting across the way I am as a person.

“And to really get embedded into Warrington as a place. I think I’ve started that process and just want to continue on with that, get into the heads of the players which I’ve started ok and just get the best out of everybody.

“I think one of the things I’ve always done well is to get the best out of individual players and if I can do that out of these quality players and then make sure that they combine collectively in an outstanding way, then we’ve got a fair team on our hands.”

As he looks to implement a brand new style of play, the buy-in from those in the creative departments could scarcely be more important.

The 1-6-7-9 spine is settled but of those four players, only George Williams is fully training at the moment.

Gareth Widdop is in Australia while Stefan Ratchford and Daryl Clark are recovering from post-season surgery.

George Williams is in training but half-back partner Gareth Widdop will not report back until after Christmas. Picture by Warrington Wolves

“Every coach has his own philosophy around the way the game should be played and embedding that is going to be the big challenge,” Powell said.

“Gaz Widdop’s not coming in until after Christmas, Stef Ratchford’s injured at the moment, so that’s going to take a little bit of time.

“But building the culture, the work ethic and all those foundation things, they can be put in place.

But yes, it’s an embedded spine, they know each other.

“We’re going to play differently to the way Warrington’s played the past few years and everybody would expect that.

“And my job is to make sure that’s knitted together in a really good way before the start of the season.”

Obviously at Castleford the facilities are not the best in Super League, but you make the best of what you’ve got and you always try to do that.

“Here, it’s about respecting what you’ve got and making sure you make the most of it.

“We’re working hard to do that. You’ve got everything you need here and it’s about making the most of it.”