Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet pays tribute to Danny McGuire following Castleford Tigers sacking
Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet says he is sure Danny McGuire will be back in the game sooner rather than later following his surprise departure from Castleford Tigers.
Earlier this week, McGuire was relieved of his duties after less than nine months in charge of the Tigers.
The Leeds Rhinos legend only took over from Craig Lingard on a three-year deal in October, having previously served as Lingard’s assistant.
Thursday’s home defeat to fellow strugglers Huddersfield Giants as their 13th loss in 17 Super League games, whilst they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Championship outfit Bradford Bulls at the start of the year.
“It has been a challenging season, but in particular, the result and performance in last week’s game against Huddersfield were hugely disappointing for me and everybody involved with the club,” said Castleford chairman Martin Jepson.
“The board felt that a change of direction was therefore needed.
“I would like to put on record my thanks to Danny for his hard work at the club over the past two years, both as an assistant and head coach, and I wish him well in the future.”
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Peet shared huge praise for McGuire ahead of Wigan’s clash with Castleford, saying he has always been a ‘straight hooter’ as a player and now a coach.
Warriors boss Peet was asked about McGuire’s surprise sacking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Friday’s visit of Huddersfield Giants.
“Yeah (I was surprised),” said Peet. “It's the game, but I hope he's alright.
“You don't know what clubs are thinking sometimes, but if you're not going to back a coach, then really it's your own appointment you should be looking at, and I'm not speaking about Castleford independently.
“But if you give such a coach such a short window of opportunity and don't support them, you've got your own decision-making wrong.
“Once you put someone in place, I think the minimum expectation should be a couple of years at least for a coach to prove their worth.
“My main message is that I hope Danny's alright. I'm sure he'll be back and go on to bigger and better things.”
Castleford’s director of rugby Chris Chester has been placed in charge of the Tigers on an interim basis.