Dickens rules himself out of Wakefield job

Wakefield caretaker coach Stuart Dickens has ruled himself out of succeeding the recently departed Brian Smith as head coach at Trinity.

The Wildcats were taken apart by 40 points to four by St Helens on Friday night at Langtree Park, a result which Dickens thought had been influenced by Smith’s sudden exit from the club last week.

“It has been a tough week, but that’s no excuse for the way we performed in the first 40 minutes,” he said.

“What’s gone on through the week, and the aftermath of that, maybe it’s had a bit more of a toll on the players than we thought it did.

“I just don’t think the time is right for myself to be head coach of Wakefield at the moment.

“I’m led to believe that there’s a number of people applied for the job, and they’ll be doing some interviews early part of next week.”

Dickens acknowledged that not having Smith around the club did create a slightly strange atmosphere in the lead-up to the game.

“To not have him there, it felt different around the place,” he said.

“The Wednesday and Thursday that we trained, I thought the boys prepared well.

“But it’s obviously had a bit of an effect on the way we started the game.”

Dickens did acknowledge that he would like to remain at the club in some capacity, but he is uncertain what the future may hold.

“I’d like to, but that’s going to be out of my hands,” he said.

“Michael [Carter] is the chairman and the owner of the club, and there’s going to be a new coach coming in, so the decision won’t be in my hands.”