Featherstone Rovers announce ex-Leeds Rhinos assistant as new coach replacing Brian McDermott

Featherstone Rovers have announced the appointment of their new Head Coach in the shape of Sean Long.

The former St Helens and Hull FC star has been working as an assistant coach for a number of years including spells at St Helens, Wigan and most recently Leeds.

Long did receive a fair chunk of criticism during his time with the Rhinos when things weren’t going well for the club especially with a blunted attack at the start of 2022.

However, following the appointment of Rohan Smith, he and Smith revitalised the Leeds attack guiding them to the Grand Final where they came up short against St Helens.

Now Long will have a chance to steer his own ship taking over at Featherstone as new eras for both Leeds and the Rovers are ushered in.

Long and fellow assistant Jamie Jones-Buchanan at Leeds have both moved away from their roles as Smith puts in place his network of staff which is set to see Chev Walker, a former Leeds star, take the role as assistant coach having worked with the reserves and academy in 2022.

Meanwhile, Long will begin work on getting the Rovers to Super League in 2023 after they came up short this year under McDermott losing the semi-final of the play-offs to Batley in one of the biggest rugby league shocks in recent years.

It is another reminder too of the connection between both Leeds and Fev with dual registration often taking place between the clubs in recent years.

However, as the Rovers develop into a bigger force, this has become less prominent but the Rovers will be the perfect starting point for what Long will want to be a fantastic coaching career and he will back himself to do what no coach has and get the Rovers to the top tier.