Gracious in defeat is clearly not a phrase that Powell is familiar with. Can't see RFL being too happy with his comments about the ref who did a good job dealing with two fired up competitive sides. Way too much talking back to ref's (from all teams) and it needs sorting. Perhaps the RFL should also point out to him that there's way too much being said by Powell about their ref's, it's getting to be a bit too regular from him but maybe coaches shouldn't be interviewed when they're feeling the heat of the moment either.
www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... ree-thaler
Castleford coach Daryl Powell accused Grand Final referee Ben Thaler of losing his cool after his side suffered a 33-26 defeat by Wigan.
Powell told the post-match press conference he expects a fine from the Rugby Football League after claiming the way Thaler spoke to his players during the game was unacceptable.
Thaler, who was Super League's top referee in 2016 after controlling both the Challenge Cup final and Grand Final, sin-binned Castleford centre Jake Webster on the stroke of half-time after he complained about him not awarding the Tigers a penalty which could have levelled the scores.
=#0000FFWe don't want players talking to referees," Powell said 
"It was a poor call - there was clearly an offside - but it was poor by Jake.
"It was the way the whole night went, a referee losing his cool completely and that's unacceptable.
"He got dropped after he refereed us in Catalans and, if I drop a player as many times as referees get dropped, I'd probably be getting rid him at the end of the year.
"There was some unacceptable stuff. I'll get fined for this but respect works both ways and players need respect in the way you speak to them.
"The way he was talking to players is unacceptable.
"I'll cop a fine for this but you need to be able to say what you think at times. I haven't complained for over a year about a referee but I'm at the end of my tether."
Castleford, on a high after comprehensive back-to-back wins over Leeds and Warrington, led 8-6 thanks to an early try from Paul McShane and winger Denny Solomona kept them in touch with two tries to extend his lead at the top of the Super League try chart to 20 but rugby union-bound winger Josh Charnley scored the second of his two tries on 54 minutes to open up an ultimately crucial 14-point lead.
"It was a poor call - there was clearly an offside - but it was poor by Jake.
