“Ironically I feel…” – Lee Radford’s final interview as Castleford boss

This morning Lee Radford was relieved of his duties as Castleford Tigers coach following three defeats to start the season.

The last was his worst defeat as Tigers boss as they lost 36-0 to Wigan Warriors.

Looking back at his comments is interesting in light of today’s news as he described the second half from his side as “a Mickey Mouse” performance.

He said: “Probably two segments, first half I was really pleased with where we were and the arm wrestle we were in. Then second half staying in that grind was difficult for us with all the bumps and bruises that occurred, then a couple of poor decisions and it sort of all adds up to a score line like that.

“You add on the back of them errors some blokes coming off and some blokes playing out of position, it looks a Mickey Mouse second half. Unfortunately that’s the way the gig can go sometimes.”

Interestingly, Radford was preparing for the Huddersfield Giants game this weekend:

“Ironically we played Saints last week who are probably the ultimate arm wrestle team, then Wigan who are second and then I’d say Huddersfield are probably the third so we’ll get them next week as well. It’s a good apprenticeship at the beginning of the season, you’ve got to make sure you learn from it and try and improve from it.

“Ironically I feel far more pleased tonight with a 30 plus score line than I did against Hull FC. I thought we played stiffer tonight than we did in round one.

Also interesting was the two players he praised. Mahe Fonua was one, a player who helped Radford to two Challenge Cup Final wins as Hull FC boss, as well as Joe Westerman who didn’t help Castleford’s start to the season with the video he was involved in:

“I thought Mahe was outstanding, one of our better performers and I thought Joe had a real crack as well, he felt his way into the game. I thought they both had a cracker.