Castleford caretaker coach Andy Last wants the job permanently - and fears he never got the Hull FC gig because he’s not Australian.
The Tigers assistant, 42, takes charge for the first time at Huddersfield tomorrow following Lee Radford’s shock sacking on Monday. He parted company by mutual agreement after Castleford lost their opening three Super League games. But big pal Last admitted: “I didn’t really see it coming. In the first three games, we were up to our necks in all the contest.
"A bounce of the ball here, better execution on a pass there, we could quite easily have been three from three rather than three and zero. It is disappointing. I spoke to Radders on Sunday after he’d had a chat with the powers-that-be. I’m disappointed for him as he’s a really good man and I’ve got a lot of time for him as a coach and a friend.
"It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since but now it’s about trying to get a performance against Huddersfield. And I do want the job permanently. I feel ready for this. Ultimately, I think it’ll be the players that decide if I get the job with their performances. But I am ready to be a head coach.”
Last was Radford’s long-time assistant at Hull and then spent a season as a No2 at Wakefield while he was also on England boss Shaun Wane’s coaching staff for the World Cup last autumn. He stepped up when Radford was sacked as Hull chief early in 2020, guiding them to the Super League semi-finals. But Last was eventually overlooked for the job with FC instead plumping for Brett Hodgson, the Australian who, of course, was also fired at the end of last season.
Castleford - who will be without England full-back Niall Evalds for four to six weeks - are scouring the market but Last feels he’s ready to be the main man. Asked if he can do much more to get a head coach’s role, he conceded: “I don’t know. That’s the thing that's difficult. At Hull, in very very difficult circumstances - the Covid break, all our home games were in Lancashire, playing games at short notice, the team and staff all taking pay cuts because of Covid - we managed to get within 80 minutes of a Grand Final and you think ‘I’ve a chance here.’
“But I still didn’t get the job. Sometimes logic goes out of the window and it’s business decisions. Sometimes they might feel people with more experience or a different accent might be the way to go. But all I can do is trust in my own ability. Hopefully you’ll see a turn around in results and aspects of our performance will be improved. Hopefully, that’s enough for me to get the job but I know I’m not a shoe-in.”
It could be a case of ‘now or never’ in his bid to finally make that step-up. Hull-born Last, who’s coached since the age of 23, added: “You can get (pigeon-holed) as a good assistant. I’ve done that for a long time and feel ready to take the next step. But to do that you need the opportunity. Hopefully I’ll be able to grab this with both hands. If you get good results and performances and I still don’t get the job, then it’s a case of what more do I need to do?
"That’s probably something I’ll ask the question. I didn’t really get that feedback from a Hull FC point of view: why I didn’t get the job. I just assume they went down the route of getting an Australian to maybe try and sell a few more season passes. I hope it wasn’t down to performances as I thought they were good. But it’s up to the individual decision-makers at each club. I can’t assume anything.”
