Catalans Dragons interim boss Ryan Sheridan has thrown his hat in the ring to become the club’s next permanent head coach.
In news that shocked many earlier this month, it was confirmed that Joel Tomkins would leave his post as boss of the club, despite only signing a three-year deal part way through last season.
Plenty of names have been thrown about, with John Cartwright, the former Hull FC coach who stepped down from his duties earlier this week, being linked with a move to Perpignan.
Sheridan has took control of the past few games whilst Tomkins had been absent, but in his first game since being formally elected in temporary charge, he secured a huge victory over Warrington Wolves.
Emerging as 38-22 winners, Catalans produced a sensational second-half, soring five tries including three from Lewis Dodd to seal the result.
Asked how he thought his side went this evening, Sheridan said to Sky Sports: “To start with, I’m just really proud of the work the players and the staff have put in.
“The troubling period that we’ve had over the last few weeks, lots happened to us and the players have pulled together, the staff have pulled together and we’ve worked hard for each other.
That was a really tough game against a tough team. I’m just really, really pleased with the players, I’m really pleased with the staff, I’m pleased for the club.”
On that second-half in particular, the interim boss added: “We knew it was important to come out of the second half with the mindset, the mentality, to defend and start the second half well and I think we did that.
“We kicked well, the halves controlled the game, the forwards took us forward. The outside backs were outstanding and in terms of delivering a game plan, I was really pleased that they played it.
I’m just pleased with the group themselves. That’s been a tough game, a tough game. We’re showed what sort of team we can be when we just get our mentality right and we all do our jobs.”
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Catalans Dragons head coach search continues but interim puts himself in contention
Sheridan has never been a permanent head coach, with his only other spell at the helm being at Featherstone Rovers back in 2013.
However, with two league wins on the spin he is certainly proving to be a top candidate should the Dragons want to look internally for their next boss.
Asked if he’d be interesting in taking the job full-time, the 50-year-old said: “Oh, definitely. I’m here at this moment in time, obviously I’ve come from an assistant and taken over in difficult circumstances.
“My job and the staff’s job is to get these players prepared and whatever comes from that, the time that I’m in charge, I want the players to enjoy each other, I want them to enjoy playing and working hard for each other and that’s my job.
“Whichever the club, the direction they want to go in, that’s entirely up to them but all I can do is keep working hard, keeping the staff working hard and the players and let’s enjoy this journey that we’re on this moment in time.”
He continued: “The important thing for me is that we get some consistency and belief in the team and we’ve found out what sort of team we can be but it’s about consistency and the challenge of Super League.
For me, obviously, it’d be a great opportunity and I think from week to week we’ll see how I go and see whether we want to go with it.”
