DANNY WARD is not to be coach at cas next season. he turned down the offer.

[paul hicks]

it's in today's yorkshie live that danny has turned down the job

Edited September 30, 2023 by paul hicks

[LeytherRob]

This year of twists and turns just keeps on giving. Feel for Cas fans, between this and the rumoured cost cutting on the playing staff next year, things aren't looking great currently.

[ATLANTISMAN]

Never saw him staying long term my wife knows his wife pretty well and they both love living in Surrey and have no intentions of moving back up north.

[Gates1]

4 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Never saw him staying long term my wife knows his wife pretty well and they both love living in Surrey and have no intentions of moving back up north.

Strange to keep applying for the job then!

Sounds like the main stumbling block was the cut to the player budget.

[Derwent]

Rumoured to have offered the job to Danny Maguire.

[Tre Cool]

I guess we're gonna find out if a team of NRL reserve graders can compete in SL  looking at the signings so far. 

[Aldinga Tiger]

14 hours ago, Tre Cool said:

I guess we're gonna find out if a team of NRL reserve graders can compete in SL  looking at the signings so far. 

I was never convinced that Danny Ward wanted the job. Once spoke to his dad when he was a player at Cas and he said he hated the place so very surprised to see him accept the role, and like said previously, why would you up sticks from leafy surry to move to West Yorkshire for a couple of years.

[The Future is League]

On 01/10/2023 at 09:50, paul hicks said:

it's in today's yorkshie live that danny has turned down the job

Now let me think. If i had the choice of living and working in the south of England and earning more money than if i lived and worked in Yorkshire, and coaching a club that goes from one crisis to another, Which one would i chose? 

[Morris Wanchuk]

It appears that Cas are gonna follow Wakey’s blueprint for success these last few years & bank on a weak team gaining promotion & not the Leigh that ripped up the playbook. 

[Wolford6]

I know nothing about Danny Ward's personal circumstances, but I do know:

• He's proved himself to be an excellent Rugby League coach.
• Rugby Union Clubs are regularly employing former RL coaches in backroom and coaching positions
• London is definitely not short of rich Rugby Union clubs.

[Toby Chopra]

31 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Now let me think. If i had the choice of living and working in the south of England and earning more money than if i lived and worked in Yorkshire, and coaching a club that goes from one crisis to another, Which one would i chose? 

What job does he have in the south that pays more than a SL head coach? Is he some sort of assistant at a union club?

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

Does seem like there's a lot of credible noise around Maguire going there, which for me would be a shame. To be honest I don’t think he needs to take a risk like Cas in his career right now, there’s a reason Danny Ward rejected it. He'll be a head coach soon enough, and I'd wait for a better gig. To be honest I’d be surprised if Peters was at Rovers for more than 3 or 4 years before going back to the NRL, look at how long Saints Aussie coaches each stayed etc… surely succeeding Willie as head coach of what will hopefully be a consistentTop 4 club is the better pathway? Life’s a marathon not a sprint and all that.

But if he does decide to go for it, then I’d say thanks for everything (especially last season) and wish him luck. With how their squad looks for next season, and the fact it looks like Ward was told there wasn't much room for change, I reckon he might need it. 

[Barley Mow]

34 minutes ago, Morris Wanchuk said:

It appears that Cas are gonna follow Wakey’s blueprint for success these last few years & bank on a weak team gaining promotion & not the Leigh that ripped up the playbook. 

I don't think they'll have to worry too much on that front.

They will have three years of the built in advantages of being a Super League club when it comes to the IMG grading. Whoever comes up will have either one (Featherstone, Bradford or London) or two (Toulouse) years of those advantages by the end of next year. Odds are that Castleford get a higher ranking come what may.

They're unlikely to finish below the promoted team and Wakefield in the rankings and should be in the 12.

[Simon Hall]

19 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

What job does he have in the south that pays more than a SL head coach? 

Working at Lidl probably pays more tbh.

[Morris Wanchuk]

2 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

I don't think they'll have to worry too much on that front.

They will have three years of the built in advantages of being a Super League club when it comes to the IMG grading. Whoever comes up will have either one (Featherstone, Bradford or London) or two (Toulouse) years of those advantages by the end of next year. Odds are that Castleford get a higher ranking come what may.

They're unlikely to finish below the promoted team and Wakefield in the rankings and should be in the 12.

Haha Oh yeah forgot about the new way of working, this IMG stuff is gonna end in tears for some! 

[binosh]

I would imagine he was interested until he found out who was signed for 2024 and what the playing budget was, no way was he going to risk his stock value at Castleford.

[Gooleboy]

12 hours ago, Simon Hall said:

Working at Lidl probably pays more tbh.

I heard he has got the Iceland job!

[Gates1]

Ward joined in a bit of a win win situation really, keep us up enhances his reputation, relegation probably wouldn't have harmed it.  I'd imagine he thinks, with a reduced playing budget, he's better waiting for a different opportunity, which I get.

Although he probably did enhance his reputation through the clubs survival.  Its worth noting, 5 of the 7 performances he precided over were dire.  Also 2 of them (Wire and Leeds) were probably the worst performances Cas put out all year.  Unlike Last, he also had Austin in place and an extra assistant coach.

I wouldn't have minded him as head coach but in all honesty his performance was pretty underwhelming.

I also think that so much of the player budget was wasted last year it was ridiculous.  It's hard to imagine Cas been worse off, on the field if the reduction comes from:

- Simm been on less than Fariamo (who was terrible and shipped out to league 1).

- Hodson been on less than Fonua (who was terrible and shipped out to league 1)

- Woods been on less tha Eden (who was injured for a big chunk of the year)

- Hooley been on less than Evalds (who didn't step on the field and has been injured for most of the last two years)

- Putt been on less than Edwards (who was horrendous all year)

- Horne been on less then Milner (who was deemed surplus to requirements)

-Namo been on less than Massey (age and injuries have caught up with Massey now)

-Tasipale been on less than Turner (another one that age has caught up with)

-El Zhakem is probably on less or similar to Matagi (who was pretty poor and was back in Aus for a few months during the season)

-Watts been on reduced terms.

-Mclelland (didn't play all season) either not been replaced or Miles replacing as rumoured possibly on less.

-Dan Smith been replaced through the youth system.

-Connor Wynne on less than Alex Sutcliffe.

-We also had Richardson, who didn't set foot on field, on decent money and Vete who played a few games terribly before been dual reg'd and later loaned to league 1.  Hopefully he will be off the books and replaced before the season starts.

The context of a reduced budget is important too:

Cas set out there strategy to reduce the age of the squad much earlier this year. Most of the recruitment was (fortunately) done before Wakey started winning games and relegation became a reality.  Adding known quantity, quality players when alot of  SL recruitment was going, at the back end of last year,will have been a thankless task with survival not confirmed.  Giving consideration to the uncertainty of finances (tv deal, spending off the field - ready for grading, ect!) and having no relegation, running on a reduced playing budget, for a year, seems fairly sensible.

Essentially next year is a reset year for Cas and any incoming coach would have to accept that and buy into it as year 1 on a 2/3 year plan.

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Gates1

[Josef K]

Surrey Surrey rah rah rah.