Powell is clearly a very good coach who has an excellent record of recruiting the right type of player (when I say that I mean attitude rather than ability) and getting them to perform better than they probably thought they could.
Clark (MOS) leaves and recruits McShane from Wakey and ends up MOS.
Gale recruited from championship side and turned into MOS.
I can't think of any club over the last 20years that has took a punt on a championship player in such a key position. Like scrum half and it has paid off like Gale. Since Powell took over at Cas we have had Sandow, Gidley, Roberts, Brown, Austin and Widdop in the halves..
He sells the players a dream and makes them believe that they can achieve it..

Powell has probably kept that club afloat with revenue from merchandising, prize money and sponsorship from CC final, Grand final appearances and LL Shield.

I only hope he has total control because if he doesn't have total control he may as well have no control at all..
So if a senior player knocks on Fitzpatrick or Morans door wanting to have a whinge because the head Coach said some things that make them upset, or they don't like how things are going then I hope they advise them to speak to the head coach because it is him that is in charge.

INOUT

In your assessment you are neglecting to mention £.

He had Castleford outperforming their cap limit and had a number of man of steel players whilst improving young players.

Anyway what are the options? We had 3 barren years with Price, another 1 wont hurt and give Powell the chance.

£ is one of the things that the board should have factored in though, as I’ve said. There’s little evidence that he can work with stars (debate on who the stars are aside), as Chase and Hardaker went off the rails and the others moved on quickly.

Paul Anderson has the same amount of trophies, and had success with a limited squad, but if he got the job we’d be scratching our heads in amazement.

My point is that the recruiting panel don’t seem to have a criteria for the post. The board have curated a squad of stars (at time of purchase) but haven’t got a leader who can get the best out of them. This isn’t a Powell bashing, this is that the direction from the executive isn’t clear.

To me, right now, it looks like the Cullen era when we had Monaghan, King, Anderson, Hicks etc and all the tools to compete but unfortunately the leader couldn’t squeeze the best out of them. And I love Paul Cullen, but the difference between Tony Smith and Paul Cullen is night and day.

If the board are maximising the cap, using the marquees and putting all of the available tools on the table for success, the coach must be a part of that plan, not just someone to hand out shirts. They need to knit the personalities, the EGO’s and the skills together to make a team.

I’m not saying Price is/was better (looks that way at the moment, his stock is rising with every poor week), but what I am saying is that we announced Price was leaving before a ball had been kicked, why rush and jump in to a decision unless it is the outstanding candidate.

I think many will share the comments on our recruitment strategy (if there is one). I would like to see us have a Director of Rugby who can have a longer term view on recruitment, retention, strategy, facilities, standards, sporting direction. Free up Karl to concentrate on marketing and non sporting operations.

Price should be remembered for the CC win balanced with the 3 limp out playoffs. He had 4 seasons. 3 seasons to apply a "quick fix" which he never did. Powell has come into a circus show of a club and playing squad and has had 10 games or so.

If we are still in this predicament in 12 months time and not showing progress then I will be calling for him to go. Until then I back him 100%.

It's more like the Cullen era when we had Reardon, Rauhihi, Sullivan, Vinnie Anderson, Swann. Players who were past their best or not as good as we thought.