Batley Bulldogs have confirmed the appointment of Matt Diskin as their new head coach for the 2017 season.
Diskin will replace the outgoing John Kear, who is set to become director of rugby at Wakefield following the culmination of this season.
34-year-old Diskin has been in a coaching role at Bradford since retiring from the game in 2014 and has been selected to take over at the Bulldogs after impressing the Bulldogs hierarchy, who interviewed five candidates for the job.
Batley chief executive Paul Harrison confirmed “It has been an exceedingly difficult task for the board assisted by John Kear and myself. The candidates were all exceptional in interview and difficult to separate but after much soul searching and sleepless nights we now think we have a new coach who will be great for our club and is ambitious for himself as well. It will be a good fit when he starts in October and I personally am looking forward to working with him. He was a quality player who has been under the guidance of exceptional coaches throughout his career and is a very determined character.”
Chairman Kevin Nicholas added “Matt is presently in a full-time post at a big Rugby League club and so for him to step down from that role and come to us, in a part-time capacity, shows a big commitment from him with the support of his wife and family. I asked him how long he wanted to pledge to the club in the first instance and without hesitation he said three years. We shook hands on it and so for the next 3 years, at least, he will be our head coach. That was his choice which again shows to us that he is here to achieve things at Batley. If he can improve us in that time then he will leave us at some point and no doubt progress to full-time. In fact his clear ambition is to be England Coach and we want him to achieve that goal after he has shown to the Rugby League world what he can achieve at Batley.”