BATLEY BULLDOGS coach James Ford says he’s looking forward to the new season after recharging the batteries following his departure from Featherstone.
The 2025 campaign lasted just four competitive matches for the 43-year-old, who was axed despite winning three of them.
Former York chief Ford, who had taken Rovers to the 2024 Championship play-offs, was handed a route back into coaching when Batley picked him in August after a recruitment process in which interim coach John Kear was influential.
Seasoned supremo Kear, who had returned to the club following Mark Moxon’s mid-June departure by mutual consent, remained in charge until the end of a campaign in which the Bulldogs finished second-bottom.
However Ford was handling retention and recruitment, with experienced halfback Ben Reynolds, signed from Featherstone, among the additions.
And he’s aiming to get Batley, noted for working to a strict budget but being stable behind the scenes, back to the days when they were making the play-offs.
In eight years at the helm, Ford played his part in building up York, who were in financial strife when he transitioned from player to coach in 2015 but are now preparing for Super League.
He led them to promotion from League One in 2018, and had a stint as assistant coach at Wakefield before moving to Featherstone, initially as director of rugby, in May 2023.
Batley were impressed by that experience, and Ford, who has returned to teaching while being away from coaching, said: “It’s been a chance to take a step back, assess things I’ve done right and also things I could have managed better.
“I’ve visited other clubs working on my own development and also just had a bit of a rest, because the last few years took more out of me than I admitted to myself at the time.
“Hopefully I’m a better coach as a result of the experience I’ve had, and I’m really enjoying being back.”
Batley will host Sheffield in a pre-season game on Sunday, January 11 (2pm).