Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Coach Dickens looking for a response from Wildcats players

Wildcats play host to Widnes Vikings on Sunday, five days after James Webster stepped down as coach following a run of 11 straight First Utility Super League defeats and last weekend’s Ladbrokes Challenge Cup loss to Leigh Centurions.

“It has been a really tough week,” said Dickens, a former Featherstone Rovers prop who will be in charge until a new coach is appointed.

“The news James was resigning and was leaving might not have been a massive shock to many people outside of the club, but when you’ve worked with him for as long as I have, it’s always a shock.”

Dickens is Wildcats’ under-19s coach and worked closely with Webster.

He added: “We spoke daily and it was difficult to see him go, but he’s given us his best wishes moving forward.

“The lads have been really good this week. James announced he was going on Tuesday and we all admitted we need to turn this round.

“We know we’re not going to just click our fingers and come up with a magic formula – we need to work hard.

“We’ve tried to change a few things to freshen things up a bit and tweak a few things I feel might be able to help us.

“When a coach leaves a club the players have to cop a bit of it to some extent. The coach generally leaves because players aren’t performing and the players are feeling that they’ve let James down. They’ve got an opportunity to put that right now, though.”

Former Wildcats boss John Kear – now at Batley Bulldogs –and Dewsbury Rams’ ex-Wakefield captain Glenn Morrison are both being linked with the post.

“I’m interim coach at the minute, but how long that period is I’ve no idea,” Dickens stated. “It’s up to Michael [Carter, club chairman] to decide as and when they put someone else in place.

“I’ve no idea about the timescale of that, I suppose the performances this and next week dictate how quick the process will be.

“My first objective is to get a response from the team and the response I get may dictate whether I throw my hat in the ring.

“Then it’s purely up to the people above me, but I’ve not 100 per cent decided yet about whether I’m going to apply.”