Chris Chester is prepared to be in charge of Castleford Tigers on an interim basis until the end of the season. The director of rugby led the club to their first win since the departure of Danny McGuire on Sunday afternoon as they beat Warrington Wolves 20-14 to enter the Super League break on a high.
However, while Chester’s players will be enjoying some rest and recovery over the next few days, he’ll be hard at work interviewing candidates for the vacant head coach role. Chester is expected to get those interviews underway today and a majority of the applicants still in the running are based down under with NRL clubs, with just one UK-based candidate.
The hope is that an appointment can be made over the next week or two then, but Chester admits it could be next season before they officially take charge. As such, it seems the Tigers may go through the remainder of the Super League campaign without a head coach in place.
Castleford Tigers head coach update
“I’ll definitely be in charge for the next game,” Chester confirmed. “The appointment will probably take a week.
“Martin [Jepson] is away for a few days in Portugal and I’ve just and a brief chat with him there so we’ll start that process. I think as well, the applicants that we’ve got are NRL based, there’s one UK based, so I think the right thing for them to do is to finish the season off with their clubs. That’s the indication I’m getting from the guys in the NRL.
“We’ll take our time with it and hopefully over the next couple of weeks we’ll make an announcement.”
Asked whether he would take the club for the rest of the season, Chester added: “I’m prepared. I’ve just been in the background a little bit, I’ve let Scott Murrell, Brett Delaney and Rob Nickolay come up with the sessions and I’ve been that father figure and helped them along the way.
“I’m here sat in front of you guys, I’m happy to do all that, I don’t enjoy it, but I’m happy to do that and if that’s until the end of the season then so be it.
“The coaches in the NRL have already given me an indication of things on what they feel we can improve on and their vision and their thoughts. I’m very optimistic and pleased with the people who have applied for the job.”
Of course, Chester’s day job centres around recruitment and he must handle that while also fulfil his duties as interim head coach. The Tigers boss admits he has seven signings over the line for next season already but there’s a lot more work to be done.
“I don’t want to be signing a squad of players and then bringing in a coach in to say, ‘sorry mate, you’ve no money’,” he said. “I’ve recruited probably seven players already, we intend to recruit some more and there will be some movement as well with potentially players that are contracted but that’s a work in progress.”
Castleford Tigers boss reveals injury blow after win over Warrington Wolves
