BRENDAN Sheridan is still pinching himself at the prospect of working with the legendary Brian McDermott in our fight against relegation from the Betfred Championship.
We stunned the rugby league world on Monday by announcing the capture of 51-year-old McDermott as a coaching consultant to the end of the season.
It followed the departure of head coach Matt Diskin, whose contract was terminated half a season early with Roughyeds on the slide, down in the bottom two and without a win since May 1.
Sheridan (40), who was coaching amateurs Dewsbury Celtic in the National Conference up to a couple of years ago, kept his job as assistant coach and now finds himself working with McDermott, the most successful coach in Super League history.
He had a brief chat with the big man on Monday before, 24 hours later, the former Leeds Rhinos and Toronto Wolfpack boss met the Roughyeds players and backroom staff for the first time at training.
Said Sheridan, brother of Castleford Tigers assistant coach Ryan Sheridan:
“It’s a huge opportunity for me to be in a position to pick the brains of a man like Brian Mac. He’s a rugby league legend.
“I owe a massive debt of gratitude to Matt for inviting me to be his No 2 in the first place. Matt is a top guy and a top coach and I’ve learned a lot from him. It was a tough decision for Chris, who acknowledged that Matt had worked very hard.
“But we are looking ahead now and it will be all about buying into Brian’s knowledge, experience, ideas and coaching philosophies and seeing where it takes us.
“It’s a fresh start and the next ten weeks will define our season.”
How strange that McDermott’s first game at Oldham should be against Bradford — his only club as a player and one for which he turned out 251 times before going into coaching and eventually spearheading the rise of Leeds Rhinos into a major force
Online tickets for Sunday’s Bower Fold clash (3pm) are on sale now via our ticketing page.
