Ex-Hull KR favourite returns to club to take on coaching role

Former Hull KR half-back James Webster is returning to Craven Park, the club have announced. Webster has agreed to take on a role within the Rovers academy as a specialist half-back coach.

The role will see Webster return to the club where he arguably spent the best years of his playing days, with the 45-year-old being brought in to help the club’s young half-backs progress. Webster spent four seasons with the Robins as a player and famously helped the club win promotion from National League One with a win over Widnes Vikings in 2006.

He went on to make 94 appearances for the club, while also touching down on 33 occasions. Webster returned to the club as a coach in 2016 and took charge of the first-team on an interim basis following Chris Chester’s dismissal.

This time, though, he will be working with the club’s youngsters under the Rovers’ head of academy Jason Netherton, who he played alongside in red and white. The club have also confirmed that Shaun Kenny-Dowall and current first-team centre Peta Hiku will be working within the academy as specialist outside back coaches.

“I’m really happy to come down,” Webster said of his Hull KR return. “I spoke to Jase and Willie (Peters) not too far back. It’s like a club down the road, I know some of these boys, I’ve watched them play since they were seven years old but I’ve really enjoyed it.’”

Netherton added: “It’s brilliant, we’re over the moon that James has come on board with the staff to teach our players. It’s a position that is at a premium in this country so any help that we can get to help the young players improve we will give them.

“James comes with a massive knowledge from his time playing in the NRL and Super League and he is also an outstanding coach in his own right. There isn’t many more people I have come across in the game that are as intelligent as he is so any knowledge that he can pass onto these young players is fantastic.”