Three of Castleford Tigers‘ star players are tipping the club for success off the back of the coaching changes made at the club this off-season.
Innes Senior, Liam Horne and Tex Hoy have all spoken to the Sportsman Rugby League YouTube channel to laud the impact that new head coach Danny McGuire and his assistant Brett Delaney have had with Senior claiming that standards improved ‘overnight’.
McGuire was at the club in 2024 as the assistant coach but made the step up to head coach after investor Martin Jepson opted to take the club in a new direction and move on from Craig Lingard.
One of the first appointments made by McGuire was to add his former Leeds Rhinos playing mate and Hull KR defensive coach Brett Delaney to his staff, with his impact being noted almost immediately.
Players spoke in the pre-season on the intensity of Delaney’s training and that has been echoed again on the eve of the season by Innes Senior in particular
“I think Magsy taking over as head coach and bringing in Brett Delaney has been massive for us,” he claimed.
“The standards at training have just gone up overnight. I think you’ll see a much tougher team and I don’t think you’ll see many scorelines where we are being beaten by 40 points or something.”
Castleford Tigers hoping to build on 2024 ‘glimpses’ as McGuire impact noted
Credit: Ed Sykes/SWpix.com
Castleford Tigers shipped 40 or more points on five occasions last season but they were able to pick up some impressive wins, notably against St Helens and Catalans Dragons whilst falling two and one point shy of Wigan Warriors and Hull KR respectively in Rounds 14 and 15.
Player’s Player of the Year Liam Horne noted that as he spoke positively on the upcoming season, also citing the new coaching staff as being impactful.
The Papua New Guinea international said: “(There are) new coaching staff and a couple of new boys in the team and the energy around the group is a little bit different to last year so I’m excited to see how we go.
“There was glimpses throughout the season against big teams, we beat St Helens and had a couple of close games against Hull KR. When you get games like that against those teams, it shows glimpses that we can do it and I think this year with new coaching staff we’ll go well.”
Whilst Tex Hoy wasn’t at the Jungle for pre-season last year, the mid-season signing is another to be impressed with the impact made by Danny McGuire as he spoke on the improvements made during the off-season.
Hoy said: “He (McGuire) took a lot of the reins last year but now he’s gone to a more serious role where he’s stamping his ways of how he played back in the day and what he thinks works.
“He’s been good but he’s been tough as well and he’s getting the boys going. They’ve instilled some qualities in the way we want to play and hopefully we’re in good stead and can push forward.”
