Eyebrows were raised on Monday when Castleford Tigers announced they had parted ways with Craig Lingard. The head coach did a fine job in his year at the Wheldon Road helm and you’d struggle to find a Tigers supporter who thought otherwise.
His departure came just a few days after Martin Jepson’s takeover of the club was announced, with the local businessman and boyhood Castleford fan becoming chairman and wasting no time in making his mark. Jepson is determined to lead the Tigers back to the upper echelons of the English game and he’s willing to make the big decisions in the process.
Lingard was an experienced head who steadied the ship during a difficult period for the club, on and off the field, but Jepson wanted his own man in place to take the club to the next level in 2025 and beyond. That man is Danny McGuire, who has stepped up from his assistant role to pick up the head coach reins on a three-year deal.
Of course, McGuire’s experience in the role is limited, having never held a permanent head coach position, but Jepson believes he’s the right person to guide the Tigers to the next level. It’s a risk, just as any appointment of an unproven head coach is, but it’s also not hard to see why the owner believes McGuire is worth backing.
The 41-year-old is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever to grace Super League and he has eight Grand Final rings at home to prove it. He’s also won three League Leaders’ Shields, two Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge on three occasions.
Indeed, McGuire was a winner as a player and while that doesn’t necessarily correlate to coaching, he has shown on the field that he is capable of handling pressure and the big occasion. He’s also demonstrated that he knows what it takes to be successful come the business end of the season and with Jepson striving for ‘excellence’, it’s fair to say McGuire’s career so far projects that.
What he did as a player cannot be underestimated and his standing in the game makes him the ideal figurehead to take Castleford Tigers into a bright new era. He’s someone the fans know well, despite spending much of his career delivering success of local rivals Leeds, and his knowledge of the game and all round presence can help when it comes to recruitment and building a team.
McGuire has done his apprenticeship as a coach, too, with the former half-back spending three seasons as part of the coaching staff at Hull KR after decided a recruitment role wasn’t for him. He spent a season and a half learning from Tony Smith, while he also had a year working with reigning Super League coach of the year Willie Peters before joining Lingard at the Tigers in October 2023.
Those experiences will stand him in good stead, as will the interim spell he had in charge of the Robins between Smith’s departure and Peters’ arrival. McGuire had 10 games in the Rovers hotseat as he saw out the 2022 season in charge of the east Hull outfit and in that time he picked up five wins, including one in the Hull derby and results over Wigan Warriors, Toulouse Olympique, Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity.
In such circumstances it will have been tough for McGuire to make too much of an impact, but he impressed nonetheless and the experience could prove to be priceless by the time the new Super League season comes around.
Of course, given this is his first permanent head coach role, what Castleford Tigers fans can expect is hard to predict. However, McGuire knows the group of players he will be working with and with Brett Delaney expected to join him from Craven Park, he will have someone he trusts to take charge of the defensive line. New faces are both needed and expected at Wheldon Road and ultimately, recruitment will prove to be pivotal, one way or the other.
For McGuire, though, this is a chance to make his name as a head coach by spearheading a new bright new chapter at Castleford and for Jepson and the Tigers, he more than fits the bill.