Daryl A. Powell (born 21 July 1965) is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

coach and former professional rugby league footballer. He is the head coach of

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

who play in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. He played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s for the

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They play home games at the Olympic Legacy Park and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Sheffield's on ...

, the

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Cougar Park and compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby le ...

and the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

, as well as

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

and

Gold Coast Seagulls The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from New South Wales Rugby League season 1988, 1988 to New South Wales Rugby League season 1994, 1994, the Australian R ...

in Australia. He played more than 450 games including 33 caps for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, and made appearances in the

Grand Final and in two

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

Finals for Leeds. At Sheffield he formed a key partnership with

Mark Aston Mark Aston (born 27 September 1967) is the head coach of Sheffield Eagles in the Championship. He is an English rugby league coach, and former rugby league who spent the majority of his playing career with Sheffield Eagles. He also had short s ...

, and holds the club record for the most individual tries in a match (5) and he did hold the record for most career tries (114) until this was broken by Menzie Yere in 2013. Powell's first move into coaching was with

as a player-coach. After retiring, he became head coach of the

in 2001, and later became their director of rugby. He coached the

Ireland national rugby league team The Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland and represents the entire isle of Ireland in international rugby league. The representative team is composed largely of players of Irish ...

as well as

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

side

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when ...

, before a return to domestic rugby league in 2008 with

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

who he led to three consecutive first-placed finishes. In 2013, he was appointed head coach of the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

in the

where, across nine seasons, he won the

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a trophy awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. This regular portion of the season precedes the playoffs for the eventual Super League Grand Final. The tro ...

and reached three major finals. He coached the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

for two seasons before taking charge of

ahead of the 2024 campaign.

Background

Powell was born in Ackworth,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England.

Playing career

Powell was selected to go on the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length un ...

. His

Testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at Sheffield Eagles took place in 1994. He played for England in the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

Leeds Rhinos

Powell played for

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

at stand-off half in their

1998 Super League Grand Final The 1998 JJB Super League Grand Final was the first staging of the Super League Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 1998's Super League III, and the first Grand Final of the Super League era. It was held on Saturday ...

loss to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. He was a member of the Rhinos'

1999 Challenge Cup The 1999 Challenge Cup, known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 98th staging of the Challenge Cup, a European rugby league cup competition. The competition ended with the final on 1 May 1999, which was played at Wemb ...

winning team. He played stand-off in the final as the Rhinos beat

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

52–16 to claim their first silverware since 1978.

Coaching career

Keighley Cougars

Powell's first coaching appointment was as player/coach at Keighley where he was appointed at the end of the 1996 season. He was in charge for 24 games before his transfer to Leeds at the end of June 1997 although his tenure as coach at Keighley continued until July 1997. Under his leadership Keighley won 14, lost 9 and drew 1 game.

Leeds Rhinos

After Powell retired from playing in 2001, he became the head coach of

. The Rhinos appeared to be on an upward trajectory under Powell, finishing 5th then

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

in his first two seasons. In his third season in charge, the club reached the 2003 Challenge Cup Final but lost 22–20 to

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

. Trailing by 2 points with 5 minutes remaining, the Rhinos were awarded a penalty. Captain

Kevin Sinfield Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980) is an English rugby union coach, currently the skills and kicking coach for the England national rugby union team, England national team. He is a former professional rugby league player for Leeds Rhinos, ...

famously opted not to take a shot at goal which would have levelled the scores. The decision backfired with the Bulls' defensive line holding firm to deny the Rhinos their first major silverware in over 30 years. The cup final defeat did not appear to affect Leeds'

form as they established a commanding lead at the top of the table. In spite of this, it was announced in July 2003 that Powell would be moved into a director of rugby role the following season to make way for Tony Smith to take over as head coach. Following the announcement, the Rhinos form dipped and they surrendered their lead at the top of the table to the

. They then crashed out of the play-offs without winning a game. During his tenure as Rhinos coach, he handed debuts to numerous future club legends including

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer who is the head coach of the Castleford Tigers in the Super League. He played as a or and spent the majority of h ...

Rob Burrow Robert Geoffrey Burrow (26 September 1982 – 2 June 2024) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played as a scrum-half (rugby league), scrum-half or hooker (rugby league), hooker. Burrow spent his entire professional career ...

Matt Diskin Matt Diskin (born 27 January 1982) an English professional rugby league coach was the head coach of Oldham in the Championship, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at represent ...

and Ryan Bailey. He also handed, a then 22-year old,

the captaincy. The group would go on to form the nucleus of the clubs famous "Golden generation".

Ireland

In 2004 Powell was coach for the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

national team. He helped to lead the team to the final of the

2004 European Nations Cup Under the same format as the 2003 European Nations Cup, six nations participated in two groups of three, each playing a total of two games. England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom ...

where they went down 36–12 to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Leeds Tykes

In July 2005 he made the switch to

when he became the offensive coach and matchday manager for

. In January 2006 he was promoted to head coach, but the season ended in disappointment when the Tykes were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Featherstone Rovers

He was appointed head coach of

in September 2008. He oversaw one of the most successful periods in Featherstone Rovers' history, leading them to three consecutive

League Leaders' Shields and Grand Finals between 2010 and 2012. Despite winning the Championship Grand Final in 2011, Featherstone were not promoted to

super league Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

due to the controversial licensing system in place at the time. Subsequently, Powell continued to ply his trade in the second tier in 2012. In addition to again, leading the club to the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

league leaders shield and grand final, Powell also masterminded a famous victory over Super League side and local rivals

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

in the Challenge Cup in what would prove to be his final season at the club.

Castleford Tigers

On 7 May 2013, Powell was announced as the new head coach of struggling

side

. Powell was awarded the Coach of the Year award for 2014, after getting the club to their first Wembley appearance for twenty years and their highest league position since Super League began. He coached the club to the 2014 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Powell oversaw arguably one of Castleford's greatest ever seasons in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

when they won the League Leaders' Shield by topping the table for the first time in their history. Despite finishing first in the regular season by a record margin, a first top flight title continued to allude Powell as the Tigers were defeated in the 2017 Super League Grand Final by the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

Warrington Wolves

On 19 March 2021, before the start of the delayed 2021 season, it was announced that Powell would leave Castleford Tigers at the end of the campaign, with early rumours linking him to Warrington Wolves, whose Head Coach Steve Price had also announced he would be leaving at the end of the 2021 campaign. Daryl Powell was announced as Warrington Wolves coach on 6 April 2021, taking over at the start of the 2022 season. On 30 July 2023, an official statement from

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

confirmed, that Powell (alongside assistant coach Ryan Sheridan), had left the club by mutual consent, after losing a 6th consecutive game to bottom-placed

Wakefield Trinity

On 24 September 2023, it was announced that Powell would take over as head coach on a four-year deal following Wakefield's relegation from Super League. On 8 June 2024, Powell led the club to victory in the

RFL 1895 Cup The Rugby Football League 1895 Cup is an annual rugby league knockout tournament for clubs in the RFL Championship and RFL League One. History and format There have been many cup competitions for the lower leagues of rugby league. In 2002 the ...

at Wembley Stadium defeating Sheffield Eagles 50-6. Wakefield would then go on to claim the league leaders shield having lost only one match throughout the regular season. The club would reach the 2024 RFL Championship grand final where they defeated Toulouse Olympique 36-0.

References

External links

Castleford Tigers profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Featherstone Rovers websiteBBC – Daryl Powell
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
*(archived by web.archive.org
When Britain defeated the Aussies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Daryl 1965 births Living people Balmain Tigers players Castleford Tigers coaches England national rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players English rugby union coaches Featherstone Rovers coaches Gold Coast Chargers players Great Britain national rugby league team players Ireland national rugby league team coaches Keighley Cougars coaches Keighley Cougars players Leeds Rhinos coaches Leeds Rhinos players Leeds Tykes coaches People from Ackworth, West Yorkshire Sportspeople from the City of Wakefield Rugby league players from West Yorkshire Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Sheffield Eagles (1984) players Wakefield Trinity coaches Warrington Wolves coaches Yorkshire rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen