McGuire opens up on Leeds Rhinos exit: ‘I was wounded’

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Castleford Tigers head coach Danny McGuire admitted that leaving the Leeds Rhinos in 2017 to continue his sensational playing career “wounded him”.

McGuire was at the Rhinos from a child and played 426 games for the club, scoring 267 tries, and playing across 18 seasons at Headingley.

In a trophy-laden career, he picked up eight Grand Final trophies, three League Leaders’ Shields, two Challenge Cups, and three World Club Challenges.

Alongside those, he had a whole host of individual honours, including the 2017 Harry Sunderland Trophy in a man-of-the-match performance during the Grand Final in his final match for the club, scoring two tries and kicking a drop goal.

It was a towering performance from a player on his way to Hull KR, a club at which he would play for two seasons before retiring and joining the coaching staff.

On The Bench podcast, McGuire admitted that he did not envision himself leaving the Leeds Rhinos and that his performance in the Grand Final was a reaction to the club letting him go at the request of head coach Brian McDermott.

“I think back to when I left Leeds and I was devastated. I assumed I’d be at Leeds for all my life. I’d never leave,” McGuire said.

“I’d have a job there until I was 65. That’s kind of how I saw my rugby career and my life kind of panning out when it didn’t work out like that.

“It wasn’t bad terms, but it probably didn’t end how I would have liked it to.

“I’m talking about Gary Hetherington and Brian McDermott. Brian wasn’t so keen for me to carry on, but I suppose Gary had to back the coach, which I commend.

“I was wounded and I suppose that’s why I ended up playing so well in 2017 because that was my way of going, you know, I’ll show you.

“Obviously we went out and we ended up winning the grand final and I knew deep down I still had a little bit more to go.

“I think when you play for Leeds, there’s always pressure, but then, you know, motivation.

“I felt like I’ve been under pressure since I was 10 years old. When I first signed for Leeds and I remember having to go to all, playing for East Leeds and going to all different clubs and everyone would say, ‘oh, he has signed for Leeds’ and they’d all try and bash me.

“So I was proving myself from such a young age and that was just another challenge really, where somebody had kind of decided that I wasn’t the one and I thought, right, I’ll show you.

“But then obviously I got the whole KR journey on the back of it and I wouldn’t change anything now.

“You know, the rugby was really tough for two years at KR and it was very up and down. We had some good moments, but then the coaching and what I learned and the people that I met on the back of that, I wouldn’t change that.”

Leaving KR: I saw myself as part of the long-term process

Once his playing career for the Robins was over, McGuire joined the backroom staff and was assistant coach to Tony Smith before becoming interim head coach following his departure.

In 2023, he reverted to his role as assistant coach under current head coach Willie Peters and had signed a contract that would keep him in Hull until 2025.

However, McGuire left the club near the end of the 2023 season as Peters started to build his own coaching unit.

“It was tough because I was really enjoying it and I thought I was part of this long-term process that the club had spoke about,” McGuire added,

“And again, I saw myself in this journey. We were improving, we’d changed the environment, we’d got some better players around. And Tony Smith came in and we started to see some improvement to a semi-final of a Challenge Cup.

“And the club was getting better, more sponsorship. And I felt like I’d been a decent influence on that. I’d played my part in this.

“I loved, I really enjoyed the year with Will. I really, really enjoyed it. In that year, I learnt more than I probably did for 10 years at the back end of my career.

“My early part of the coaching, just his work ethic and the way he went about things and his passion, his commitment, his detail. So it was such a great year. And he works his assistants hard, he’s demanding.

“There was a couple of things that happened that, you know, just differences of opinions on things and which happens, I think, in coaching and in life and in sport. And I felt, you know, it was okay. We worked together for the rest of the year.

“It just came a bit out of the blue, really. I’m cool with it now. I think it was probably more the timing of it that more was disappointing.

“It was last minute. Yeah, it was just before the playoff game against Leigh. I think it could have been done a little bit better.

“But again, I understand and I’m cool. How was it done? It was just ‘look, we’re going a different way’. It was Paul Lakin and Willie.

“It was tough, but that’s sport and I think, you know, it happens, doesn’t it?”

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