Castleford coach Daryl Powell ignoring Salford's injury problems

Castleford coach Daryl Powell is urging his players to ignore the signs of desperation coming out of Salford ahead of Sunday's First Utility Super League clash at the AJ Bell Stadium.

With four players suspended and at least another six injured, Red Devils assistant coach Ian Watson stepped up his training this week in readiness to make a playing comeback at the age of 38.

In the event, head coach Iestyn Harris has been able to assemble a 19-man squad without having to call on his right-hand man and he has received no sympathy from his opposite number.

"Obviously they're finding life tough with suspensions and injuries but so are we," said Powell.

"They're talking about having 14 players missing but we had nine out last week which has been pretty tough.

They're talking about having 14 players missing but we had nine out last week which has been pretty tough.

"I'm not too fussed about that. The key thing for us is not to get too worried about what's on the other side of the fence in terms of thinking 'this is going to be an easy game' because there aren't any of those.

"Your mentality going into games, as we've just seen, is absolutely key. From any angle, we've just got to play well.

“Whatever is happening to them, they've got to make their own decisions on what's going on. I just think it's about us."

Castleford missed a chance to climb into the top four when they crashed to a 46-16 defeat at Widnes last Sunday but a win at the AJ Bell Stadium in the only game of the day would enable them to leapfrog sixth-placed Salford and re-ignite their play-off prospects.

Although the Tigers are struggling to reach the heights of 2014, when they finished in fourth place, Powell insists the play-off spots are up for grabs and he is challenging his players to seize their opportunity by bouncing back from their eight-try mauling by the Vikings.

"Salford might be sniffing a bit of blood if they watched that video of us last week," said Powell.

"We were poor so there's no point in looking at anything other than ourselves and making sure we deliver a good performance.

"We were pretty consistent last year. I think the whole competition lacks consistency this year. We are one of those teams who are sat in there, in and around 10 points, and I think the team that can grab it and get some consistency is going to go on and have the potential to be in the top four.

"At the minute I'm challenging the boys to be one of those teams."