DANNY WARD has spoken on his first fortnight as head coach of Castleford Tigers.
Ward was appointed to the role following the sacking of Andy Last and the former London Broncos man has revealed what it’s been like since taking over.
“First few days it was a madness, I don’t think I slept for a few days, organising things,” Ward said.
“It was a whirlwind but this week has been really good and I couldn’t have asked for any more from the players and staff. The players have bought into the tweaks we have brought in.
“Everyone at the club from groundsman to assistant coaches they have all been fantastic. It’s been a warm welcome and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Ward has explained the little things he has tweaked and what his Castleford players need to do.
“We have got six weeks, coming in now it’s not about reinventing the wheel it’s about looking at those little tweaks in attack and defensively where we can be a little better.
“It’s hard to gauge, coaches can come away from a week thinking it’s been a good win but then they can play terrible in a game or you can have a bad training week and then kill it on game day
“We have had a really good week of training, the boys need to be accountable to each other and do their job, work as a team and get where we need to be.”
The new Castleford boss is also keen to get his around the young players at the club.
“Everyone wants a blank slate and judge people on how they train, how they are around the place and how they interact with players and what they do day to day but at the same time I have watched games, kept my eye on the team for a few years so you know lads that have been here a while that have credit in the bank.
“There are some good young lads at the club that I don’t know as much about so it’s about working out those but the staff have been brilliant with that. A lot of it is about learning on the run but it’s a difficult one to balance.”
Of course, the Tigers go up against Wakefield Trinity tomorrow night – with memories of 2006 when Wakefield escaped relegation under John Kear.
Ward himself played for Castleford that night but he is determined not to put too much pressure on the players tomorrow night.
“I know there is a lot of talk about the 2006 one, being in that game. It was a huge game and I was talking with a couple of lads that they had watched it on Sky on repeat. I gave it a miss!
“It was one to forget for me personally. You don’t want to put any extra pressure on the lads, they know what kind of game it is. We can only focus on ourselves as a team and individual performances.
“It’s got to be like you prepare for any other game. It’s alright getting a win and celebrating like you’ve won a cup final and then get beat the last five games. We have prepared our best and focus on the performance and how we will get that performance.
“What comes after you know there will be a lot of twists and turns.”
Ahead of the trip to Wakefield tomorrow night, Ward has called the Tigers underdogs.
“I think we go in as underdogs, with the way Wakefield have been playing at home and our form. They will be confident, they have bene picking up some big wins in recent months. They will definitely be favourites and feeling that way going into it.