York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth has fielded questions over his own job security after Saturday’s huge home defeat at the hands of Wigan Warriors.
Wigan led 72-0 after 57 minutes before taking their foot off the gas with a late York fightback, ensuring the match ended 72-20 but whilst those 20 points saved some embarrassment, they didn’t save Applegarth from a barrage of questions post-match.
Among those was a query around the squad selection as York carried just one prop on the bench against what is one of Super League’s most powerful packs, something that Applegarth answered in his post-match presser, shared on the club’s YouTube channel.
“The team I picked, I’ll have to own,” Applegarth accepted.
“I don’t want to get into team selections, obviously. There’s certain things that we want to keep behind closed doors.
“With where we’re at currently, we felt that were the strongest 17 that we could field but certainly after getting that scoreline on you, there’ll be an assessment of myself first and foremost, how I picked that team, and then individuals that were picked in that team.”
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York Knights boss faces job security questions
There’s plenty of mitigation around York’s struggles with the Knights one of two Super League clubs to be on half the central funding of others, whilst they also only learned of their promotion in October, therefore had less time to flesh out a Super League-ready squad.
Whilst those factors are all true, the Knights still only have three wins this year and they’re currently on a run of eleven losses in twelve games, something that saw Applegarth asked about his own job security.
He answered: “In elite sport, you live with that, don’t you? I think all you can do is control what you can control. I’ve always been that way.
“Some years you’re flying high, everything is going right, and then other years you’ve just got to accept you’re in the trenches and you’ve got to make sure you’re leading well there, and I always judge people on how you deal with things when your chips are down.
“It’s fair to say that our chips are down at this moment in time, but personally I haven’t turned into a bad coach overnight. Last year you’re getting awards for your coaching, and this year you’re getting asked are you going to get sacked, and you’ve just got to accept that’s part and parcel of the job.”
Offering a staunch defence of himself and his future, he added: “I know where we’re going. I’ve got a clear vision for the club. The club’s obviously got that vision as well, and we’ve just got to go through that process to get in that right contingent that’s going to fulfil that vision, haven’t we?
“Needless to say, after every loss you look at yourself first and foremost. I won’t shy away from that. I always assess probably harder than I assess anyone else. Have I got my messages right? Have we got our coaching right? Ultimately it’s me that’s head coach, and I’ll own that performance because that’s part of my job. I won’t be passing the buck to anyone else.”
York will next have a chance to reply with an away trip to Castleford before facing Huddersfield at Magic Weekend in what looks a favourable run of five fixtures, with Hull FC, Toulouse Olympique and Huddersfield again all lined up in their next five games.
