FORMER Wakefield coach Mark Applegarth is enjoying some extended family time with his partner and two-year-old daughter before deciding on the next step in his Rugby League career.
Applegarth left Trinity at the end of the season after their relegation from the top flight was confirmed and the club changed ownership.
A native of Wakefield, he had been dealt a tough hand at the start of the season. After losing the first 14 matches in Super League, he was unable to avoid the relegation trapdoor, despite the mid-season recruitment of David Fifita, Josh Griffin and Will Dagger that saw Trinity pick up eight points in the second half of the season – the same as Hull FC and Salford, and two more than Castleford – but by then the gap was too large to bridge.
After a playing career that included spells at Wakefield, York, Central Queensland, Batley and York, Applegarth then spent more than eight years at Wakefield in various capacities off the field, including player performance manager, head of youth, assistant coach and head coach.
As his LinkedIn profile makes clear, his next step could be in or out of Rugby League.
“Seeking an opportunity to utilise my expertise and passion for coaching to contribute to the success of a dynamic organisation inside or outside of professional sport,” he writes.
So what will his next move be?
“At the moment I’ve got nothing lined up in rugby and I don’t suppose there is ever a good time to be released,” Applegarth told League Express.
“Most clubs are already stocked up and ready for pre-season.
“So I’ve been doing some casual work, going into businesses and doing some talks on building teams. It’s been good to re-charge. I’ve been able to spend time with my daughter, who is two and a half, to see her grow up.
“I’ve probably spent more time with her over the last six weeks than ever before.”
Applegarth is happy to reflect on his time at Wakefield and confirms that he bears no ill-will towards his former club.
“Life is about timing and perhaps it wasn’t a great time to become the Trinity coach. But it was a good opportunity to grow, a lot to learn, and it was money in the bank in terms of life experiences,” he insists.
“It’s hard to say no to coaching your hometown club. It was too much of a pull and an opportunity to turn down.
“That’s what makes life interesting. Sometimes you’re in the trenches but you have to take up the challenge.
“But the game owes none of us anything. Whatever opportunities come up, you assess them. While at the club I enjoyed re-establishing the Wakefield youth system with a pathway we could be proud of. The next step for Wakefield is to keep hold of those players.”
And now Applegarth admits that, having had a taste of being a head coach, he wants another chance.
“I have always wanted to go back to coaching first teams,” he admits.
“I do want to stay in the game and I want to be at a club with ambition.
“Perhaps there are only seven or eight clubs with genuine ambition to push boundaries and achieve.”
Sadly, Applegarth appears to have left Trinity just when the club has enjoyed a new injection of ambition from its new owner Matthew Ellis.
“You just have to take the rough with the smooth,” says Applegarth.
“As I’ve said, it’s all about timing, and there is no animosity or bad blood. I’m happy to see Matt in charge and I’m sure Wakefield will be a force in the next five to ten years.
“And I have a theory about what drives success.
“If you look at Wigan and Saints, or the two Hull clubs, I believe you need two thriving teams to create a buzz.
“Hopefully in our district Trinity will generate some success and we will see Castleford doing the same thing, so that both clubs can rise together with a great rivalry.
“When I was a lad, there was a great buzz and it created a great interest in Rugby League.”
Applegarth accepts that the previous owners of Trinity couldn’t transform the club into a leading member of Super League.
“Michael (Carter) and John (Minards) and the board did a great job in saving the club from the brink, but Michael’s resources could only take the club so far. But now Matt has come in and he has said the club is going to the next level.”
Applegarth admits he is prepared to look far and wide, including in Australia, where a trio of British assistant coaches – Lee Briers at Brisbane Broncos, Brian McDermott at Newcastle Knights and Richard Agar at New Zealand Warriors – have enjoyed great success in 2023.
“Currently Australia is the place to be, with Rugby League the number one sport in Sydney and Brisbane,” says Applegarth.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with Rich Agar, while Matt Peet speaks highly of Lee Briers and Brian McDermott is the most successful coach in Super League history.
“I would be prepared to consider a stint down under, but don’t have an agent pressing my case. I like to speak to people myself.
“If an opportunity comes, then it comes, but if not, then I will have to look elsewhere.”
Applegarth is reluctant to spend much time dwelling on what went wrong for Trinity in the 2023 season and he is reluctant to blame others for what happened.
“There is no point looking back, you just have to take your lessons on board,” he insists.
“The main one for me is to stick to my principles, and if there were things I wasn’t happy with, perhaps I should have put a cork on the hole a little quicker.
“Ultimately I was responsible and you lose respect if you try to blame other people. Instead you should learn your lessons and don’t make the same mistakes twice.
“As a head coach you live and die by the sword.”
