UNLESS you’ve been living under a rock, you will have noticed that the Castleford Tigers need a new head coach following the sacking of Andy Last.
The final straw proved to be Castleford’s 28-0 home loss to the Huddersfield Giants on Friday night in what was the West Yorkshire side’s 17th loss from 21 Super League games in 2023.
In fact, Last himself has won just four fixtures since being given a shot as head coach – which is the third worst win ratio of any Castleford boss for the last 30 years.
Bottom of the pile is Mick Morgan with a win percentage of zero after taking charge for four games in 1997, whilst Ian Millward is second to bottom with just one win in five games at 20%
Last’s record isn’t much better with the sacked Castleford man at 21.1%. Danny Orr – who took temporary charge for three games in 2013 following the sacking of Millward – has a win percentage of 33%.
Terry Matterson, who served the Tigers between 2005 and 2011, is at 39.2% and Graham Steadman just above him on 42.1%.
Lee Radford – the man who left Castleford just three games into the 2023 Super League season – is ahead of Steadman on 43.8% with Stuart Raper at 52.3%
Malcolm Reilly, who led the West Yorkshire club to Wembley success in the 1986 Challenge Cup Final, is next with 54% and John Joyner just above him on 55%.
Interestingly, Daryl Powell is not the most successful coach in Castleford’s recent history despite having a win percentage of 56.6, with second place going to Darryl Van Der Velde.
The Australian has a win percentage of 60.3, who led the West Yorkshire side between 1988 and 1993, but it’s another Aussie that takes top spot.
That man is Dave Woods, who took charge of Castleford in 2005 – the first season in which the Tigers found themselves in the second division.
Winning 25 out of 30 games, Woods finishes with a win percentage of 83.3 to sit proud at the top.
To put that into perspective against Last’s record, Woods won almost four times as many games in charge – though, of course, it was in a lower division.
Credit to rugbyleagueheritageproject.org
