Revealed: Why Super League club abruptly cut ties with Championship club

It is a funny old time at Keighley Cougars at the moment.

The club were firm in their stand against IMG but since their efforts to convince the rest of the sport to vote against their changes failed the club have gone through plenty of turmoil.

The Cougars lost star signing Luke Gale as the former Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos star joined Wakefield Trinity for the rest of the 2023 season and for 2024.

They then announced that they would be parting company with coach Rhys Lovegrove.

And now the club’s dual registration partnership with Hull KR has ended immediately in a strange move given the likes of Ethan Ryan have played for the Cougars through the system this year.

The Robins made the following statement:

“Hull KR can confirm the club’s dual-registration partnership with Keighley Cougars has ended with immediate effect.”

Hull KR can confirm the club's dual-registration partnership with @Cougarmania has ended with immediate effect.#UpTheRobins 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/ufgojA3P7C

— Hull KR (@hullkrofficial) May 18, 2023

Keighley have now confirmed that the department of coach Rhys Lovegrove was the reason behind this sudden cutting of ties.

“The dual reg relationship we had with Hull KR was fairly informal and built on trust between Rhys and Willie Peters. The relationship ending, was half expected, but KR’s player pool was fairly depleted and KR are making a go of the reserves league, and there was talk of the relationship being pulled 3-4 weeks earlier.

“In a positive, it gives Jy-mel and the coaching staff chance to use their own connections and explore other relationships.”