Featherstone Rovers Women appoint former Castleford Tigers coach

Featherstone Rovers Women have appointed former Castleford Tigers Women head coach, Marie Colley as their new Head Coach.

The club revealed that there was an extensive recruitment process that saw a number of high-quality candidates put themselves forward from both the UK and Australia.

Colley will take the reins from Natalie Gilmour who will remain with the club as a coach.

Colley joins the club with a wealth of experience in the game, as well as possessing a track record of developing young athletes and for setting high standards that create a successful culture that players have thrived within.

On taking up her new post, Colley commented: “I’m so excited to be here, I’ve strong family links to Featherstone with one half of the family being season ticket holders, but the other half who are Castleford have given me a bit of stick but are fully supportive of what I am aiming to achieve.

“I’ve been impressed with the club’s approach to the Women’s team, it’s fully integrated, we use the same facilities, and we were delighted that Brian McDermott joined one of our off-season training sessions.

“It’s an exciting time, we’ve recruited well in the off season, so it gives me that chance not only to work with a new group of players but also there’s some new faces that I’ve worked with previously.”

Featherstone Rovers Women’s Team Manager, Becky Higgins commented: “We’re delighted to have Marie on board, she has a wealth of experience in the game and is particularly good at getting the best out of players.

“We’ve a big season ahead of us, we’re looking to be competitive in all competitions this year and I think Marie gives us the best chance of doing so.

“During the off-season we’ve held two train and trial sessions that have allowed us to recruit a number of high quality players so we’ve good depth in our squad heading into the season.”

The fixtures for both the 2022 Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup and Super League have also been revealed.

The league campaign will see Rovers take on Bradford in the first round whereas there’s a local flavour to the Challenge Cup group with Featherstone sharing a group with Castleford, Wakefield and Oulton.

Photo credit to Castleford Tigers.