‘I miss coaching but I enjoy my current job’: Chris Chester on Leigh Leopards role

CHRIS CHESTER admits he misses the buzz of coaching while insisting he gets a kick out of his current role as Head of Rugby at Leigh Leopards.

While Adrian Lam earned the accolades as his charges sealed a return to Super League at the first attempt last season, he has always been quick to praise the role played by ex-Hull KR and Wakefield coach Chester.

The 44-year-old arrived at Leigh as the club regrouped after relegation in 2021, when they suffered defeat in 20 of their 22 top-flight games.

Last year, the then-Centurions won all but one of their 27 regular-season Championship matches as well as two in the play-offs, including the promotion-clinching 44-12 Grand Final win at home to Batley, and the 1895 Cup, with Featherstone seen off 30-16 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It was Chester who recruited former Wigan coach Lam (the pair played alongside each other at the Warriors in 2001) and worked closely with him to build last season’s successful squad.

He’s been busy once again trying to shape a playing pool capable of not only keeping Leigh, rebranded as the Leopards by owner Derek Beaumont, in Super League, but also making a bid for the play-offs.

“We want to have a go, and I think we are capable of doing that,” said Chester, whose twelve recruits to date are backs Tom Briscoe, Zak Hardaker, Ricky Leutele, Tom Nisbet and Gareth O’Brien and forwards Matt Davis, Jacob Gannon, Oliver Holmes, Jack Hughes, Robbie Mulhern, Aaron Smith and Nathan Wilde.

“We’ve got an owner who wants to invest in the whole club and grow it in all areas, men’s, women’s, development and learning and physical disability teams, and it’s been enjoyable being a part of what we’ve done so far.

“I miss coaching and the buzz you get from it, but I enjoy my current job and providing a link between Derek and (operating manager) Neil Jukes and Adrian.

“It’s different to what I was used to, but I had some experience of dealing with playing contracts when I was at Wakefield, so I had a foundation to build from.

“I’ve made a few mistakes along the way, but hopefully we’re getting there, although it’s an ongoing process, because you can never sit still.”