A leading English coach has emerged as a shock contender for the vacant Tigers, Bulldogs, and Warriors positions.
Ian Watson, who recently took Huddersfield to the Challenge Cup final, has been put forward to the three clubs by a third party.
Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.
Watson, a former halfback-hooker with nearly 300 games to his credit, is regarded as a rising star in Super League coaching.
In 2019, he took battlers Salford to the Super League grand final and the following year he coached them to the Challenge Cup final before making the switch to Huddersfield.
Few British coaches have made the transition to Australia but the last one to do so - former star backrower Malcolm Reilly - won a premiership with Newcastle in 1997.
WWOS
I'm assuming this is coming from a link with Hastings.
FWIW, very early in the season I heard a whisper from someone ordinarily reliable that the Tigers already had Hodgo lined up to replace Madge. I disregarded it at the time and still think it would be a mistake and VERY left field.....but remember where you heard it from
Heard the same rumour and mentioned on the pod a few weeks ago :p
MIght have been you I heard it from 
@tiger5150 Big mistake if we go with Hodgo good grief no
I agree. But having said that, I want Ciraldo, who arguably has less experience than Hodgo.
@tiger5150 Big mistake if we go with Hodgo good grief no
I agree. But having said that, I want Ciraldo, who arguably has less experience than Hodgo.
I agree, I want Ciraldo too. But on Hodgo, while he didn't do a great job in lower grades here, he seems like he's doing an ok job in the UK. I think he's got Hull running 5th or 6th. If he was here working under Sheens I wouldn't have an issue on that.
@avocadoontoast Hodgo this type of thinking BLOWS MY MIND 
.. I would like to make the 8 this decade!!!!
Wests Tigers recruit Apisai Koroisau has urged Panthers assistant Cameron Ciraldo to follow him in making the switch to Leichhardt in 2023.
The 29-year-old dummy-half signed with the merger club on a two-year deal with a mutual option for a third season beginning in 2023.
Ciraldo has been in the headlines in recent weeks after three NRL head coaching roles became vacant.
The Panthers assistant is hot property and the Tigers and Bulldogs are said to be interested, with Ciraldo already having toured the Tigers’ facilities alongside director of football Tim Sheens who have made it clear he is seeking a development coach to take over.
“I’d love him (at the Tigers),” Koroisau said to reporters.
“Whatever he does, he is incredible. He’s our assistant coach but he does all the defence and he makes sure we do it his way.
“He changes it up too, it (training) is never the same. He’s always making sure the boys are paying attention.
“I’ve got huge raps on him as a man, leader and a coach. He’s not a straightforward coach, he will change it depending on the situation and I think it’s important to do that as a coach.”
Koroisau is hoping Ciraldo will join him at the Tigers, as well as gun forward Isaiah Papali’I who will be making the shift from the Eels in 2023.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Api is a company man already. Thats what we need.
Api is a company man already. Thats what we need.
Yes, he's gone up in my opinion of him.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Api is a company man already. Thats what we need.
Yes, he's gone up in my opinion of him.
REbuild culture, build a team around Api, Joffa, Ken M, AD, Hastings, Tamou, Twal, Stef.
Talking culture not playing ability...less Noffa screwing around after 7/8 years, less Laurie insta stupidity
The Wests Tigers and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are locked in a gripping ‘tug of war’ over Penrith assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo, with both clubs hoping to make the gifted mentor their next head coach.
But he’s now been tipped to snub both and remain at the Panthers, in the hopes of a shock third option next season.
Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe made a public pitch for young coach to choose the joint-venture club, declaring the struggling franchise ‘a real opportunity’.
“He is one of many (options). Certainly his credentials are exactly that, he has obviously done a lovely job with what he has done out with Penrith, he is certainly in the mix as others are too,” Pascoe said on Fox League’s NRL360 on Wednesday night.
“If you really delve into the fundamentals of this club and where we are at, I don’t think it is a tough sell at all, I think it is a real opportunity, the foundations are set there.”
Ciraldo recently toured the Tigers’ unopened Centre of Excellence and met with powerbrokers at the club, and has also spoken to influential Bulldogs figure Phil Gould – meaning the ‘fight is on’ for the coach-in-waiting.
“There is pretty good mail around today that Gus (Gould) has held talks with Cameron Ciraldo as well, and that he may have toured the facilities as well, I am not too sure about the second part,” Brent Read said.
“But he has definitely talked to Cameron Ciraldo so the fight is on, the tug of war is on.”
But Phil Rothfield believes that taking on either of the two struggling clubs would place the young coach under ‘quite significant stress’ – and it might just leave Ciraldo waiting for a better opportunity.
“There is a lot of people tipping he is going to stay at Penrith, he is on nearly $400,000 as an assistant coach,” Rothfield said.
“He is going to get quite a significant pay-rise here for a guy that has never coached a first grade rugby league team,” Braith Anasta replied.
“He is going to get quite significant stress and he is a young man, 37-years old, young family, they aren’t the most appealing franchises Canterbury and Wests Tigers,” Rothfield added.
“I think he might wait a year and see what else comes up, would St George come up next year? I don’t know. Are they a bit more appealing? I don’t know.”
Despite the risks of hiring a rookie coach, Ciraldo presents an unusual prospect given he has essentially taken charge of the Panthers in recent days while regular head coach Ivan Cleary battles injury.
“If you listen to people he has basically been coaching Penrith at the moment because Ivan has that knee problem, he has been in hospital,” Rothfield said.
“Cameron has done a lot of the coaching out there at the moment, so we can say he hasn’t coached an NRL team, but he sort of is at the moment in a lot of ways.”
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Cleary has come out and said he hopes Ciraldo doesn’t leave and warned him that:
“One thing’s for sure, if you don’t take the right job it’s a pretty short career.”
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Brett Kimmorley: ‘I’ve learnt a lot in seven days’ (msn.com)
Learning on the job. Great, that’s exactly what Wests Tigers need. Please spare any more embarrassment from the club.
@helmesy It's good to see that not even a blood clot can stop Ivan from putting the tagger in
@avocadoontoast Hodgo this type of thinking BLOWS MY MIND
If he could get them to play with Hodgo's own ticker every week we'd be a mile better off
@helmesy It's good to see that not even a blood clot can stop Ivan from putting the tagger in
Channel 9 reporting Cleary’s blood clots have spread to his lungs. Sounds serious, will no doubt influence Ciraldo’s decision.
