Castleford Tigers head coach Danny McGuire spoke after his side’s victory 22-14 over Salford Red Devils – the first win of his coaching career.
McGuire had previously served as an assistant coach at Hull KR and Castleford but took the reins at The Jungle late last year when he took over from Craig Lingard.
It took until Round Four of Super League but he has finally got his first win as a head coach and the ex-Leeds Rhinos legend conceded that it was a ‘relief” when speaking post-match to BBC Radio Leeds.
“Probably a bit of a relief if I’m being honest,” he responded when asked about earning his first win.
“The game wasn’t a spectacle but I’m obviously really pleased and I’m really pleased for the players after seeing what they’ve done in pre-season and also what they handled this week.”
There had been talk during the week that the game may have been cancelled given Salford’s well-documented issues over their lack of player payments, something that could have caused players to refuse to play.
Addressing that mid-week drama, McGuire said: “The stories were about Salford and rightly so but it’s not been an easy week for us and we showed character and worked really hard. It wasn’t perfect but they kept working for each other.”
Castleford Tigers boss recounts ‘tough’ week in build-up to Salford win
New recruit Judah Rimbu ran the show for Castleford as they won 22-14 but that scoreline could have been wider had the video referee favoured the Tigers more, going against them on three separate occasions.
McGuire was asked if he was unhappy with those decisions, to which he replied: “Would it help if I said yes?
“The one where they’ve given a try, I thought it was going backwards and a couple of other ones you get some that go for you and some that don’t.
“You’d hope that they even themselves out over the course of a season. Whether they do or not, I’m not sure but I’m just happy that we won.”
Castleford now head into a week off after being knocked out of the Challenge Cup and McGuire promised that week will replicate pre-season, insisting that there is now reward for being knocked out of the competition.
That tough week will also allow a week of pure focus, something that was perhaps hard to cultivate this week given the drama surrounding Salford.
McGuire admitted: “It’s been tough, I’ve tried to take a little bit of pressure off the players and not allow them to focus too much on what’s going outside of what we can control.”
On Salford, he said: “I feel sorry for the players and the staff. It’s a bit of a mess but it’s out of my control and my focus is on my players and doing the best to get them in a position to play well.
“We prepared as if we were playing. I never had any inkling that we weren’t going to play. I don’t know if anything was going on above me, if it was then I was unaware.”
