WORKINGTON TOWN coach Jonty Gorley is looking forward to continuing his love affair with the club – even if he will be spending less time there.
The 55-year-old is preparing to hand over the team reins to Brad Singleton, the former Super League forward now playing for Barrow.
After the end of this season, his second as Workington coach after almost three in charge of arch-rivals Whitehaven, Gorley will support the rookie 33-year-old coach is a newly-created head of rugby role, which will also take in Town’s women’s team and foundation as well as forging better links within the local community game.
Having grown up supporting Workington, he played for the club as a hooker between the 1994-95 and 1997 seasons.
Then after coaching in the local amateur game and in the former Cumbria Storm set-up (a regional youth development system and talent pathway run by the RFL), he first returned to lead a Town youth team before in 2014 becoming assistant to Phil Veivers.
Much-respected Gorley says work and family commitments mean he can no longer commit the necessary time to being coach.
But he is happy to be continuing his involvement with the game and Workington, saying: “I love the club and it’s great I can still be involved.
“My biggest task, I think, is going to be getting around the amateur clubs and building those relationships up.”
Gorley’s final game as coach at the end of this month will be at home to Whitehaven, where before taking the top job, he had three years as assistant to Gary Charlton, with whom he had also been at Workington.
Town have signed versatile Seaton Rangers back Jaiden Tallantire, 18, on a contract which runs through to 2028.