Championship coach bemoans major pre-season disruption ahead of new campaign

New Sheffield Eagles head coach Craig Lingard has bemoaned his side’s disrupted pre-season campaign, which has been blighted by weather issues and high-profile exits.

Lingard took the role at Sheffield following his sudden departure from Castleford Tigers at the end of the 2024 season, and will be looking to turn the Eagles back into serious play-off contenders following a disappointing end to their Championship campaign.

He also comes in for long-standing boss Mark Aston, who was handed an 18-month ban from coaching last year.

Craig Lingard bemoans disrupted pre-season ahead of Championship campaign

The Eagles were set to face Castleford Tigers – Lingard’s former side – this weekend in Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e’s Testimonial fixture, but this was called off due to the weather.

“We can’t control the weather can we?” Lingard told the club’s YouTube channel. “But every other team will be exactly the same as we are.”

He added: “I would imagine that most teams in rugby league are contending with that. It’s not ideal because we were late starting pre-season. Our last session as a group was the 23rd of December and coming back, we’ve not got on the field as yet.”

“We’ve just tried to utilise that time in a positive way and put some plans and standards in place that we want to aim for.”

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Whilst the weather has been a major concern for his side’s preparations for the new season, they have also been hit with two major departures.

Assistant coach Simon Brown has left his position on Lingard’s staff, but the major one is back-rower Bailey Liu’s move to Championship rivals Bradford Bulls.

“It’s not ideal, said Lingard. “But one of the first things I said to the players in my first meeting here was that I understood players had signed under a different regime. I had a chat with Bayley and he’d been having a think about it for a while that he wanted a new challenge. There’s no fall-out there.”

He added: “As far as I’m concerned, I only want people who want to play for Sheffield. We’ve got to have people who are 100% in. If a player comes to me that doesn’t want to be here then we’ll do what we can to move them on.”

Whilst Lingard might have lost one of his key men to Bradford, there is speculation Sheffield could beat the Bulls to the signature of winger Liam Tindall, who is a free agent after his exit from Hull FC.

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