WARRINGTON Wolves have gone from potential top five finishers to Super League whipping boys in the space of a month.

When the Wolves took to the field at Cardiff Arms Park to play Castleford on July 25 they still had a chance of making the end of season play-offs.

They lost then, have failed to win since and sunk to a new low at Wheldon Road on Saturday when a Warrington team conceded 50 points to a Castleford side for the first time in the club's history.

Mark Forster, one of the few players to come out of the Cas game with credit, summed it up.

He said as he left the dressing room: "It's getting worse. That was humiliating.

"I never even felt as bad as this when we lost 80-0 to St. Helens."

Coach Darryl Van de Velde was obvously not happy that his side had folded so easily at his former Castleford home.

Van de Velde raged: "The first half was disgraceful football.

"There was a lot of sloppy tackling and a lot of poor ball control.

"We scored our first try and then had to defend our line for 18 tackles. We did well for 17 of them, worked really hard, and then on the last tackle we went to sleep and they scored.

"That's not good enough for this level. This is Super League. These players are supposed to be Super League players. It is extremely disappointing."

Van de Velde would not accept the injury situation as an excuse.

He said: "I am not interested in making excuses. We had 13 players out there.

"These players are professionals. This is their day of work.

"This is the game today. Players have to play with minor hurts. You have to play when you are busted, it's just a fact of life. This is their sole source of income. They have to play every week.

"The supporters travelled 2.5 hours by car to watch them play. They expect someone to stand up and be counted."

Warrington looked to have turned it round at half-time, pulling back from 26-10 down to 26-20.

Van de Velde said: "It was disappointing how we conceded all those points in the first half.

"We made a positive start to the second half by knuckling down and getting back into it but then the sending off of Michael Eagar did not help us."

In the end Van de Velde said there was little positive he could take out of the game.

He said: "Our forwards never dominated at any stage. Our half backs did not take the ball to the defensive line. We didn't play constructive football.

"There was no zip there. There was nothing there."

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