Championship head coach reveals what international boss brings to team

York City Knights were without a head coach after James Ford joined Mark Applegarth at Wakefield Trinity but they’ve filled both the head coach, and now the assistant coaching job with plenty of experience.

The Championship announced earlier this week that they have appointed Ireland boss Ged Corcoran as their assistant coach heading into the 2023 campaign.

Corcoran had previously became the first Irish-born man to lead the national team and he did so during the recently concluded 2021 World Cup.

At that tournament Ireland managed to secure a huge victory over Jamaica with the 48-2 win becoming the country’s largest ever World Cup win.

Knights’ head coach, Andrew Henderson, has been speaking to BBC Radio York ahead of his side’s first pre-season friendly on Sunday and when asked about Corcoran he had nothing but praise to add.

“I’ve known Ged for a number of years, we’ve never worked before, but we speak often and challenge each other with different ideas. He’s got as much passion about the game as I do so I know we’ll work well together.

“What Ged will bring is honesty, integrity and passion for the game and one thing I want to bring to this organisation is that we want people that want to be here and help the team progress and develop and that’s what Ged will do. He’s got the players interests at heart.

“His skill set will be more attuned to the forwards and the defensive side of the game but I felt adding an assistant coach on board was important. I only had Danny Kirmond at my disposal but I didn’t want to throw him in at the deep-end to coach straight away, he’s still playing and if I’m being honest then with the size of the squad we’ve got I probably need him to focus more on the playing as well.”

At the time of Corcoran’s announcement he also commented to the Knights website about his appointment.

The Irishman said: “I’m really excited about the challenge ahead and working with Andrew Henderson and the great group of players that we currently have at the club; a mix of seasoned pros and some inspired young professional athletes that want to be at the top of the game.

“I spoke to Hendo throughout the World Cup and while he was at Keighley Cougars. We speak about rugby all the time and we both challenge each other.”