After a miserable 2022 season Workington Town are rebuilding on and off the field so it was time to catch up with one of the key men at Derwent Park.
Gary Murdock has taken on a dual role at the club and has worked closely with coach Anthony Murray in putting together the current squad.
Well Gary can you just tell me how you started in rugby league and how your playing career evolved?
My first introduction to the game came playing under 15’s for a newly formed team at Ellenborough Rangers, playing out of the famous Cuckoo club down on Maryport Harbour!
We progressed from 15’s, 17’s, and onto under 19’s , winning cups and playing in a National cup final along the way.
From that group of players many went onto play pro rugby league. I was fortunate to be scouted to go to Carlisle Border Raiders along with lifetime friends in Paul Robinson and Ian Scott, enjoying around eight years playing with some fantastic players and under one or two great coaches.
What made you go into coaching and who have been the main influences in your coaching career?
While still playing for the Raiders I had the opportunity to return to Elbra and coach at a pretty young age.
Trying to combine playing and coaching probably had a detrimental effect on my pro career, but I loved coaching and knew at some stage coaching would be the road I wanted to take.
The biggest influence on my coaching career was without doubt Cameron Bell at the Raiders, he was so far ahead in tactics and how the game should be played, trying new plays and thinking out of the box.
I learned so much and I followed that same coaching philosophy throughout my career.
Attack is the best form of defence. I always coached how I wanted to play – attack from anywhere.
You took Ellenborough to a National Cup triumph and many successes locally. What were the highlights of your time with Elbra?
In my personal opinion that Elbra team was probably the best amateur team in the country, packed with size, pace and skills.
The majority of players had come through the youth system and were all fantastic friends off the field. I have yet to see a better team than that group.
The highlights are many. Winning the National Cup was up there but looking back we should have one won four, beaten semi-finalists twice and beaten in the final the year before we won it.
Beating Bramley at Headingley when they were a duel reg club with Leeds Rhinos, and a team containing plenty of Leeds players (Ryan Mc Donald etc) was special, and then going onto beat a very good Hunslet team in the next round at Derwent Park.
Hunslet were in, what was in effect, the Championship at the time and contained some great players like Ikram Butt, Paul Manson etc.
Winning any final or big game is special, doing it with your best mates makes it very special. We still meet up on a regular basis to reminisce and remember some great friends who were part of that special period in all our lives.
Of course you were first involved at Town as a coach. What do you remember about your time at Derwent Park?
My first involvement at Town was actually as a player. I came from Carlisle and trained on the Thursday night, and on the following Tuesday I was asked to take up the coaching position after the then coach Andy Platt had left!
So I was basically thrown it at the deep end, and people forget I was probably around 26/27 years old.
I had been coaching for a few years at Elbra and believed I was ready for the job, but to say it was a baptism of fire would be an understatement.
We had ageing, expensive players, too many travellers and were struggling badly in the league.
A total rebuild was needed, some hard times followed but after a very tough season we started to turn the fortunes of the team around.
When I left the club we were sitting ¾ in what was then a two league competition, – Super League and the rest in the Championship.
Winning at Featherstone and Barrow for the first time in many years were probably the highlights.
There were some good people around the club at the time but unfortunately the foundations were built on sand and like so many times in the club’s history, financial turmoil was just around the corner.
You are back at the club now with two roles. General manager and director of rugby – can you explain what those roles entail?
Initially I was asked to return to the club last season to help with recruitment and retention. The role in effect deals with all player matters, recruitment, retention, discipline, contracts etc.
However our coach has the final decision who comes in to play for our club. We work together to identify players and if the figures stack up it’s my job to try and bring them into Town.
The DOR role basically oversees all rugby related matters around the club, which now includes the Workington Town Ladies, something we have really high hopes of.
The general manager role again is looking at the day to day running of the club, working alongside a fantastic group of volunteers and staff.
The day to day upkeep and running of the club takes a huge amount of effort and without the support of the volunteers, directors and staff it simply would not be achievable.
Obviously you want to win as many games as possible but have you a target which would be acceptable after your return to League One?
After last year it was obvious that a total reset was needed, both on squad costs and also the make up of the squad.
We have started a journey this season with more young local players, limited experienced travellers and keeping our best from last season.
We believe we have a talented group of players who are at the club for the right reasons, something which is very important – they care about the club.
The target this season is a simple one, they give everything in every game, that’s all the supporters ask for. If they that do we are confident we will have a successful season.
We are building strong foundations throughout the club, and when we again get promoted we will be in a much better position to sustain out place.
You’ve helped bring in several players who are locally based. What is your assessment of the state of amateur rugby league in Cumbria and the quality of players being produced?
Anyone with an ounce of RL knowledge can see the game locally is in a pretty dire situation.
How we fix that is the million dollar question. We have to produce more players that filter through to open age rugby. At the minute that simply is not happening.
I have some strong views on this which is maybe for another time, but why are we having kids from 5/6 years old tackling in RL?
Up to 11/12 years the game should be simply skills based. I often go to kids festivals and every game a child comes off the field crying after being injured.
Why do we let this happen. Playing from five years old in a contact sport is wrong in my opinion.
When they get to 16 years they have played for 10/11 years , will have had numerous injuries and we wonder why very few filter into open age rugby.
Under 18s/19s must be brought back and encouraged. We are pushing young lads into a man’s game way too soon.
The argument is that without them we wouldn’t get a first team. My counter to that is if we don’t change that mentality we will not have either in the near future.
Having said all that there are still some quality young players out there who want to test themselves at pro rugby. However when amateur clubs lose their best players the effect can be huge due to the low numbers playing the game. This will not change until we increase participation levels.
The Grading system is going to be crucial going forward as to the level clubs can play. How are Town doing in ticking the various boxes?
Having spent many hours on the IMG meetings it’s obvious that change and help is needed.
However being honest I am a little underwhelmed with the proposals so far.
IMG are driving a grading system to improve standards which we are already in the process of doing and we agree with.
However to meet the grading criteria required money is needed and there is no new money, so in effect the clubs who receive most of the money now are always going to be in a better position for higher grades!
Much more discussion is needed before our club could support the current proposal.
However our club is already taking a root and branch approach on all aspects of how the club is run, financed and managed, identifying areas of improvement, which going forward will make it a much better opportunity for any potential investors.
Tell us about some of the initiatives being introduced by the club to boost support and also to tick more boxes?
Following our well documented financial issues last season, we have looked at all aspects of our club.
We need to have a sustainable, solid base from which we can build. We needed to reset with the community, make our stadium a welcoming place for anyone wanting to use our facilities. We increase our footprint and hopefully we increase awareness of what we have to offer.
Kids free in 2023 is also another great initiative. We want the stadium full with young fans, as they are our future.
Community takeover days will return this season. Community clubs will get the opportunity to bring all their junior teams and coaches to the ground to play curtain raisers, be mascots and hopefully have a great day.
Derwent street, is a new initiative for 2023. We have created a seating, food and drink area at the Town end of the ground.
We need supporters to get to the game early, have a drink, a pie or a burger and enjoy the curtain raisers or ladies games before the main event.
We have purchased two catering vans this season so every pound spent goes to our club.
Myers and Bowman fanzone will hopefully be open for the North Wales game, a marquee will be up along with our new stage for our live music events, beer, food and music after the match.
The fanzone will also be available for private parties this year. It’s a fantastic venue for any event or party.
It’s the old chestnut to close with Gary. Would there be any mileage in IMG’s vision of the game if Town and Whitehaven got together for that “controversial merger.”
Again it’s the million dollar question John. From a personal point of view I do see both sides of the argument.
A Cumbria franchise sounds and looks a great idea but without huge investment would we be any better off?
However, without change and investment both clubs will never progress to the level required for Super League .
We believe our club is on the cusp of potentially having a fantastic future. If we get the new stadium right, a facility that allows us to maximise income and revenues and a stadium where we can increase our supporter base, increase sponsorship opportunities this will attract investment, so all the boards efforts at present are focussing on building a successful Workington Town.
