After the Wests Tigers publicly confirmed that they had struck out with their number one coaching candidate in Cameron Ciraldo, they may have created a new problem.
What’s clear from this saga is that Ciraldo was the man they wanted – so whomever is their next target will know in the back of their mind that they weren’t the preferred candidate.
Former NRL enforcer James Graham agreed, saying that regardless of who comes in now, they’re going to be fully across the situation.
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“This is bad news for everybody involved at the Tigers, the fact that they were so public with their number one choice,” he said on Triple M.
“It makes me think, whoever does get the job, they’re going to be well aware that they weren’t the number one choice.”
Graham also said that despite the situation they found themselves in, the Tigers still had one massive drawcard; their head of football.
“I think their shining light is that they’ve got Tim Sheens in there,” he said.
With Ciraldo off the table, the search will continue – and current Tonga and St Helens coach Kristian Woolf is a hot name, and has just rejected an approach from the Warriors to take the vacant head coaching job there.
“I wonder now if they’ll consider a developing coach – I don’t quite know what the criteria is, but maybe they go all-in now for Kristian Woolf. He’s knocked back the Warriors job,” Graham said.
“Could you put him in the developing coach category? I guess you could extend it to include him.”
The Tigers, Warriors and Bulldogs are all on the search for a new coach for 2023 – but the latter appear to have turned a corner with interim boss Mick Potter, and Phil Gould has said the club has not even begun the search for Trent Barrett’s permanent replacement.
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