Castleford Tigers coach Danny McGuire admits 'I was wounded' as he opens up on Leeds Rhinos exit

McGuire was last month inducted into Rhinos’ Hall of Fame, honouring a 17-season career which ended with him as the fourth-highest try scorer in his home city club’s history. Only 10 players have made more than McGuire’s 424 appearances for Leeds, the last of which was a man of the match performance in the 2017 Betfred Super League Grand Final victory against hot favourites Castleford.

McGuire scored two tries and captained the side at Old Trafford as he capped arguably his best season in blue and amber, after revealing earlier in the year he would be moving on. After leaving Rhinos, McGuire spent two seasons as a player with Hull KR before joining their backroom staff. Now 42, he moved to Castleford Tigers as assistant-coach ahead of last season and became team boss this term.

Speaking on Sky Sport’s The Bench Podcast, McGuire revealed he had been keen to continue playing for Rhinos, but then-coach Brian McDermott had his doubts. “I think back to when I left Leeds and I was devastated,” McGuire said. “I assumed I’d be at Leeds for all my life and I would never leave and I’d have a job there until I was 65. That’s kind of how I saw my rugby career and my life panning out and then it didn’t work out like that.”

McGuire said there were no hard feelings, but admitted: “It didn’t end how I would have liked it to. I just felt like I wanted to carry on playing and the people in charge at the time, one was okay with it and the other wasn’t. I’m talking about Gary [Hetherington, Rhinos’ chief executive] and Brian. Brian wasn’t so sure. Gary was keen for me to carry on, but I suppose Gary had to back the coach, which I commend. I was wounded by that and I suppose that’s why I ended up playing so well in 2017, because that was my way of going ‘I’ll show you’.

“When you play for Leeds, there’s always pressure. I feel like I've been under pressure since I was 10 years old. I was proving myself since then and that was another challenge, really, where someone had decided I wasn’t the one and I thought ‘I’ll show you’.

Looking back, McGuire feels it all worked out for the best. He said: “I got the Hull KR journey on the back of it and I wouldn’t change anything. The rugby was really tough for two years at KR and it was very up and down, but then the coaching and what I learned - I wouldn’t change it so I’m glad it played out that way.”