Sheridan on pre-season so far

2021 marks the ninth year of Assistant Coach Ryan Sheridan at the club. Ahead of nearly 10 years at the club, the former Great Britain international will be looking to push the team to greater and greater heights in the coming season.

Being in contention later in the year starts with putting in the hard work during pre-season and this is where Sheridan has already noticed some familiar and some not-so-familiar faces laying down a marker after 5 weeks of hard work.

“[Pre-season’s] Great overall, the boys are really applying themselves, it’s been a great start. There are a few additions that we’re trying a few different things with and they’ve all been really engaged so in a word: awesome!

A new season brings new faces of course and not just from far afield. There was plenty of optimism from the one-time former Tiger that new signings and youth graduates would be big contributors in a potentially fixture-packed season.

“Without a doubt the new additions will be there to help bolster the team! We’ve got some young kids in there like Sam Hall, Cain Robb, and Adam Rusling that are training well and that are competing and challenging the senior boys. Obviously the new signings like Sui, Niall, Jordan, and Lewis, they’ve really stepped up and raised their standards since joining so for us we’re training really well and we’re pleased with where we’re at.”

Of course, one man who will also be in his ninth year at the Fords is Head Coach Daryl Powell. The duo worked together as part of a very successful coaching setup at Featherstone Rovers before joining Castleford together in 2013.

Former Coach Danny Orr taking up a role at Salford, has necessitated an evolution of the coaching structure, but despite all the time together, Sheridan says there are still plenty of new things to try out and this year, especially with the skillsets that himself and Powell bring, a revitalised approach to attack and defence is beckoning.

“Our coaching relationship keeps evolving: We’ve got our philosophy on how we want to play the game, with and without the ball. We’re a creative coaching duo, we’ve always been like that and we challenge each other in different ways and we’ve both got different skill sets that marry up and make a great partnership. Each year brings something new, something challenging, my role this year is going to be defence and Daryl’s is attack so there has been a bit of a switch around in there, which is good. It’s refreshing for myself and refreshing for the players as well, in terms of having different voices in different areas of the game.”

Ryan is sponsored this year again by the Black Swan in Normanton and wishes to extend his heartfelt thanks to them for continuing their support at what is obviously a financially difficult time for many pubs.

“It’s a great gesture, I really appreciate it and I’m grateful for the support that they’ve shown not only myself but the club as a whole so thank you once again for their support and their support of me in particular.”