Featherstone Rovers have confirmed the appointment of Ryan Carr as their new head coach, following the shock departure of John Duffy to Leigh Centurions.
The 30-year-old joins on a two-year deal, heading over to the UK from New South Wales Cup side Mounties, having also being involved in the academy set-ups at Cronulla Sharks and South Sydney Rabbitohs, while during his playing career he also turned out for the Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers.
Carr met up with the Featherstone squad yesterday, who had been training under the stewardship of Greg Stebbings and Paul March, before his unveiling today, after confirmation of a move that was reported on Total RL earlier in the week. The move comes after chairman Mark Campbell, who made it clear the search for a new coach had taken him to Australia, met up with Ryan and received positive reports from a number of established NRL coaches who has worked alongside Carr.
“I have known of the club and of the Championship for a long time now,” he said. “I know it is a proud club with a lot of history and I have heard a lot good things about it.
“I know people who have come from Australia to play here and I know people who have played against Featherstone. And they have always said that they are really competitive and really hard to beat.
“For me, I thought it was a natural fit. I met with Mark [Campbell], he was out in Australia and I sat down with him and had a couple of meetings and we got along really well.
“So that was probably the main thing that sold it for me, with how well I got along with Mark, how we spoke about the area, the town and how big the club is here. I feel really privileged, I am really happy to be here and I am excited for the season.”
”I am big on building relationships, I am not about ruling with an iron fist. I like to work with the players because they are the ones on the field doing the hard work.
“Over the next few months, I am going to work really hard to get to know the squad personally and collectively and hopefully build some really strong relationships. And if we are all on the same page and all working towards the same goal then that is the most important thing from my perspective.”
”I am just looking forward to getting to work with the boys, there are no excuses. It is a bit of a late start on my part due to the circumstances, but we have got to get on with our job and get on with what we can control.”