Brown named new St Helens coach

This morning St Helens have announced that Huddersfield Giants Head Coach Nathan Brown will take over at St Helens at the end of the year.

St Helens have been without a coach since they dismissed Royce Simmons after a run of 4 consecutive league defeats helped the Saints to their worst ever start to a Super League Campaign.

Brown will leave the
Giants at the end of the season

Brown (left), 38, was expected to leave the Huddersfield Giants at the end of last season however signed a one year extension and so it was again widely believed that he would head back to his native Australia, where he previously coached St George Illawarra Dragons, at the end of the current campaign. Although it would seem as if his head has been turned by this opportunity and he has decided to stay. In an interview for the BBC Brown said:

"They are a great and historic club and continuously associated with success. I'm relishing the challenge for next season onwards. That said, this season is all about Huddersfield Giants for me. It's good to get this announcement out of the way so that I can concentrate totally on the job at hand."

Browns' Giants currently sit on top of the Super League table and his impact at the Giants has been huge and this news will be a blow to Giants fans as he is going to be very tough to replace. He is a young and well regarded coach in the game who will be looking to add to the success that Saints have had in previous years as well as finishing this year with hopefully some success for the Giants.

St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus said: 

"We are extremely pleased that Nathan will be joining us next season. He is still a relatively young coach but already has pedigree and experience gained over many years as a head coach at the highest levels, both in the NRL and in Super League. I believe he is ideally suited for the Saints, both with regard to the way we want to play and as to what we aim to achieve in terms of success".

As for this season Saints currently sit 7th however are on the up after the interim duo of Mike Rush and Kieron Cunningham have guided the Saints to two consecutive wins over the Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves respectively. This news means that these two men will remain in charge for the rest of the season. Their next game is on Good Friday as they host local rivals the Wigan Warriors, in the first derby at their new home of Langtree Park, in what promises to an absolute belter.