Former Super League head coach Craig Lingard has spoken after being appointed as the new head coach of Sheffield Eagles with the ex-Cas boss outlining what he’ll demand of his side, how he’ll integrate new signings and what he asks of the fans.
The ex-Castleford Tigers boss hasn’t been out of the game long with yesterday’s announcement that he would take charge of Sheffield Eagles coming just six weeks after it was confirmed he’d leave his Super League role.
That decision surprised many with the consensus among fans and neutrals generally being that Lingard had played the hand he’d been dealt well, something that Sheffield Eagles are now doing as they move to hire a head coach following Mark Aston’s RFL suspension.
Lingard is a very experienced Championship manager and made Batley Bulldogs into contenders during his time with the club so it’s no surprise to see him snapped up by a club such as Sheffield.
What will Craig Lingard’s Sheffield Eagles look like?
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He’s now given his first interview with club media in which he was asked what fans can expect of his Eagles’ side to look like with the club aiming to return to the play-offs in 2025.
The 46-year-old explained: “It’s difficult to say that until I know what I’m working with but I want all my sides to be honest and hard-working when they represent the club.”
Given the fact the Eagles will play their first competitive game in late January in Round Two of the Challenge Cup (drawn at home to the winner of West Bowling versus Wath Brow Hornets), that pre-season effort will be primarily based on work rate and fitness as opposed to the implementation of a Lingard style of rugby.
Lingard conceded: “If you’ve got the hard work and the effort then the other bits can be added onto that as well. That will be the first two or three works of the pre-season, hard work and effort areas.
“It’s not ideal because we’re probably two or three weeks behind where we need to be so I think at the start of the season, it might take us some time to get into some sort of form and getting the combinations working.”
Integrating Super League signings in key positions ‘not ideal’
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One thing that the former Cas and Batley boss can take solace in is the fact that the squad has remained relatively unchanged with just five new signings and not too many departees, something he would note.
“There’s not been a massive turnover of players so hopefully connections are still there from previous years of playing together so that familiarity should help us,” Lingard claimed, before noting the handful of Super League signings that the club had made.
“But obviously we’ll be integrating some of these new players in key positions with a new half-back (Morgan Smith) and two new hookers (Corey Johnson and Reiss Butterworth) as well.
“They’re key positions in your spine so they need to build up those connections and that familiarity in the short time between now and that first pre-season game, and even the first competitive game at the end of January. It’s not an ideal situation but we’ve got what we’ve got and we’ve got to work with that.”
The addition of all three men is mightily impressive business with the trio all having had success at Championship level before. It could be the case that the Eagles take some time to integrate but once they do, they will likely take some stopping.
Lingard would allude to that in his final message to the fans, stating: “Hopefully the fans get behind us. I want the players to represent the club and the fans as well so get behind the players, we’ll need that support at the start of the season and hopefully we can build as the season progresses.”
