England coach gives backing as Andy Last set for Castleford job

England coach Shaun Wane has given his backing to Andy Last, who looks set to be appointed as the new Castleford head coach.

Last, 42, has been acting as interim head coach since the departure of Lee Radford, just three rounds in to the new Super League season

He has since overseen wins over Leeds and Wakefield, which has kept the Tigers away from the foot of the table.

With a raft of players out of contract and an aging squad, Castleford have a job on their hands to re-build for what could be a critical 18 months for the club and the sport.

Last has been in the frame for the job from day one, having stepped up in the same way he did at Hull following Radford’s departure.

But there has been little indication of what the Castleford board have been planning for the long-term, with Last himself admitting in post-match press conferences throughout the interim period that he himself wasn’t sure where they were up to.

Several names have been linked with the job, including former London coach Danny Ward, Wakefield assistant James Ford and ex-Widnes boss Denis Betts.

Australia-based coaches Justin Morgan and Ryan Carr have also been linked with a Super League return.

It looks like Last has won the race and will be announced later this week.

Ahead of last week’s game against Salford, Last said: “Like I’ve said for three or four weeks now, the club are doing their due dilligence and are going through a process which I understand. Hopefully they’ve gone through the process and looked at the applicants I’m the person who gets the job on merit – not because of necessity or because its the easy option, but because I’m the right person for the job.

“I’ll be speaking with the club in the coming days and hopefully what I have to say and what I see as a project for this club will be on the same lines as the board of directors and that we can get something done.

“The club are going through a process and its only right to go through a process, but hopefully once they go through it, that I’m still the best person for the job.”

Backing of Shaun Wane

Last has the backing of England coach Shaun Wane, who has confirmed that he will be remaining as one of his assistant coaches ahead of this month’s test match against France.

He added: “We share phone calls, text messages with regards to players in form, the England programme. He is a mentor for me in terms of coaching so if there are any issues that I’ve got that I need to ask for a little bit of advice on, he’s always on the end of the phone.

“We’ve become really, really good friends and he is someone I’ll definitely keep in contact with for the rest of my career because we’ve shared some special moments and he is someone I respect hugely, so he is always there on the end of the phone.”

England take on France at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington on April 29, giving Wane his first chance since the World Cup to assess his Super League based players ahead of what they hope will be an autumn test series against Tonga later this year.

There is also just over two years to go until the next World Cup in France.

Wane said recently: “Andy Last is locked in (for England). He is a great coach and I’ve advertised for another coach, I wanted to have a look out there to see who is really interested. That’s an ongoing process

“I speak to Andy everyday, nothing about Castleford. He speaks to me about what I would do in certain situations and I’m happy to help him in any way. I rate him, he’s a good guy, he’s done well for England and he’ll do well for Castleford.”

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