A former Great Britain international who can count Leeds Rhinos among his former clubs has landed a coaching role within Super League.
Darren Fleary has been appointed to the role of academy assistant coach at Huddersfield Giants, another of the 53-year-old’s former clubs.
Fleary, who has been involved with the academy set-up for a while but on a part-time basis, made two appearances for Great Britain in 1998 as well as three for England in 2000.
The forward started his career with Dewsbury in the early 1990s, going on to join Keighley Cougars and then Leeds Rhinos, where he would spend five years and make a total of 127 appearances.
Fleary left the Rhinos to join his hometown club Huddersfield, making 55 appearances for the Giants before joining and retiring with Leigh Centurions in 2005.
His appointment to the role of academy assistant coach sees him support head of youth Steve Fox with the Giants focused on bringing through their next crop of talent.
Huddersfield Giants appoint former Super League forward to academy role
Fleary had previously coached the scholarship side at Huddersfield and he recalled that when speaking about his appointment and what a full circle moment it is.
“It’s a really exciting time for me, being part of Huddersfield Giants now full time,” Fleary declared.
“From coaching the scholarship to having previously been a player to coach the academy too. To work with Steve Fox again with the Academy is going to be brilliant, so I’m really excited about it.
“I’m hoping now to really just put some stuff into my mindset, my kind of thought process on the game and how I tried to play the game and look after myself and show that to the next generation of players of the Giants!”
Head of youth, Steve Fox, spoke to the pair’s prior relationship as a testament to why he’d appointed the ex-GB man to the academy coaching set-up.
He said: “It’s absolutely massive. Just to give you a little bit of history, I’ve known Daz a long, long time before we actually started coaching together. When I took over at scholarship level, I was keen to bring Daz in. His experience, and knowledge, and the way that he speaks to the younger generation, the way he speaks to the players is very, very good, so we were really keen to bring on full time.
“When this opportunity arose, when I took over the Academy to bring a full time assistant in, there was no hesitation. We knew he was the right man for the job. As I said, his experience levels in coaching is very good anyway, but the way he certainly specialises with our forwards and defensively, we were keen to bring him on board. So, for me, it’s absolutely huge!”
Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here.
✍️ Academy coaching staff bolstered by Fleary
Read more… 👇#GiantsUnleashed
— Huddersfield Giants 🐮🔔 (@Giantsrl) January 22, 2026
