Kevin Brown names the Super League club Justin Holbrook would “want” to join

Justin Holbrook has to go down as one of the best coaches in Super League’s recent history. He took over a St Helens team with massive untapped potential mid-way through 2017 seemingly on course to miss out on the play-offs for the first time ever.

However, he had a quick impact and took them to fourth place becoming the first team to beat Castleford Tigers at the Jungle. He nearly repeated the feat as well in the Super League semi-final until golden point heart break denied him and the Saints.

In 2018 and 2019 the Saints arguably should have won the treble but did win the Grand Final in 2019 in his last game before taking over at Gold Coast Titans.

Last week though he was relieved of his duties at the club and there has been lots of talk about the Super League clubs he could join. However, Kevin Brown believes he won’t come to Leeds Rhinos or Warrington Wolves.

“Well, he had a great experience over here and I remember his stuff after he won the Grand Final before he left. He loved the town that he was in and he loved the country but he wanted that next step in his career and go and be a coach in the NRL and you can’t blame him for that,” Brown said.

“But I think the experience he’s had, I don’t know his personal circumstances, he has got a young family, but because it was such a good experience, you’d think they’d be open to the potential.

“There’s probably a few clubs. I think Warrington would be crazy to get rid of Daryl at this stage, when they’re second in the comp. I know things at this moment in time are a little bit frustrating, but I see it as a blip, and I think they’ve got over last year, so I’d take Warrington out of that equation.

“Leeds, they’re up and down, but again, they’re on the back of a great win and you can see a resurgence almost like last year if they can put it together a little bit longer.”

He went on to suggest Huddersfield Giants and Wakefield Trinity could be interested: “The two are Huddersfield and Wakefield for me. I think Wakefield is a strange one, would he want that job? Not sure. But there’s a potential new ownership going in there.

“If that does happen, then Wakefield, they’ve got the stadium already nearly finished, they’ve got a big fan base, they’ve got lots of youth players coming through. Then that might be something as a project that he might want to go into.”

But ultimately Brown feels the club he would want to join is Huddersfield, with the undeperforming Giants possessing a star-studed squad with the likes of Tui Lolohea, Theo Fages, Will Pryce and Jake Connor.

The likelihood of him going there though remains to be seen, with current coach Ian Watson still seemingly backed by the board at the John Smith’s Stadium after guiding the club to the Challenge Cup Final and a top four finish in 2022.

“Holbrook is a superstar coach,” Brown added. “Superstar coaches obviously want superstar budgets and Huddersfield Giants have got that. He’s shown he can win titles.

“Watson is obviously under pressure but he will be given time to turn things around, and I think that’s only right given what he achieved there last season – I think he has credit in the bank still.

“But there is no question he has to turn things around quickly, but you’re asking me Holbrook’s most likely destination in Super League at the moment and I would say the Giants – there’s obviously a lot of question marks around that though even if there was a vacancy there the chances of him going I’m not too sure.”