Daryl Powell has revealed that he left Warrington successor Sam Burgess a secret message wishing him well following his Wolves appointment.
Veteran coach Powell, now 60, endured a turbulent 18-month stint at Warrington‘s helm between 2022 and 2023.
After finishing second-bottom of Super League in the first of those seasons, Powell’s Wire side began 2023 with eight straight wins before plummeting.
His reign eventually came to an end after a defeat at Wakefield, that Warrington’s sixth loss on the spin at the time, and Trinity are coincidentally the club he moved on to.
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‘It’s nothing to do with Sam, it is what it is, so I wished him all the best and we get on pretty well when we speak’
As Powell took on the Wakefield job ahead of 2024, he was replaced in the Wire hotseat by NRL and England legend Sam Burgess.
The 37-year-old took up residency in Powell’s old house, and it was there where Powell has revealed he left a secret message for his successor, with pen and paper!
Wakefield travel to Warrington on Saturday evening, and in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Powell shared: “He (Burgess) went into the same house as me.
“I left him a note in a book in the house, and I don’t know if he ever saw it.
“I just left him a note to say, ‘all the best mate, there’s no hard feelings from my side’.
“It’s nothing to do with Sam, it is what it is, so I wished him all the best and we get on pretty well when we speak.
“I spoke to him at the (Super League season) launch the other week, we had a good crack there, and I wish him all the best, apart from when we’re facing up against them, obviously!”
‘I’ve got no dramas at all about what happened. I’d have liked for it to have gone differently, but that’s life’
Powell’s Wakefield side did the double over Warrington last year, winning 30-16 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and then 40-10 on home soil at Belle Vue.
Those results came en-route to Trinity, in their first year back in Super League, finishing in the play-offs as Warrington ended up eighth.
On his unsuccessful stint with the Wolves, Powell said: “To be honest, I’ve just moved on from it, I don’t think there’s any point in dwelling.
“Apart from learning from some of the situations, I think I’ve learned a fair bit and grown a fair bit from that, and that’s it, really.
“Not everything works for you in life, everybody finds that, and it is what it is.
“I moved on, I’m having a great time here now and last year was probably important in terms of that first contact (with Warrington since leaving).
“I’ve got no dramas at all about what happened. I’d have liked for it to have gone differently, but that’s life.
“Don’t dwell on the things that don’t go your way, learn from them and move on, and that’s what I’ve worked hard to do.
“I concentrate on what’s directly in front of us. That’s a game against Warrington and it’s two points up for grabs, and nothing else.”