Brian McDermott outlines only objective after becoming Featherstone boss
The objective for new Featherstone head coach Brian McDermott is simple: win promotion to Super League.
The former Leeds and Toronto Wolfpack boss has succeeded James Webster as Featherstone coach.
McDermott, who was a coaching consultant at Championship side Oldham last season, is delighted to be back in a head coaching role with promotion chasers Featherstone.
He said: “I am really pleased and I’m excited about signing as head coach at Featherstone Rovers.
“There’s a decent project here and I understand the task ahead for the club. I understand the club as well. I understand the philosophies, I understand where Mark’s (Campbell, chairman) at. The guy has got a burning ambition to get promoted, that’s always been the case and I’ve always known that.
“There are other things that have happened over the years with Featherstone and the club itself has grown. It has filled out, it has packed out and it is one of the most progressive clubs in the game.
“It has got the single objective of getting promoted to Super League, that’s what Mark has got me here for and that’s my task.
“I’m really excited for the project ahead. There are not many projects in the game at the moment, there aren’t many clubs who have got the ambition that Featherstone Rovers have but the script that lies before us about doing something that hasn’t been done with Featherstone is one of the main reasons I’m here.”
Brian McDermott pays tribute to Featherstone chairman
In his press conference on Monday, McDermott heaped praise on the work done by Rovers chairman Mark Campbell to get the club to where it is today.
He said: “If you was to visit the club 10 years ago, it looked different. This club has grown, I don’t think that’s a secret.
“I think it has grown off the field and the squad it has got together has progressively got better. That has taken some expense, Mark has generated that funding for the club to be able to recruit a decent squad. In terms of where it was 10 years ago to where it is now, there is genuine growth.
“For them to have this ambition of getting promoted, it is quite a big ambition and a ballsy ambition compared to what some other clubs have spent over the years. Just in terms of that rather than survival or top four is not the goal, it is getting promoted.
“It is the ultimate in putting your chips on a marker and saying ‘this is what you want’ and if we don’t come up with the goods we’ll be disappointed. All that is a package called progression. From where it was years ago to where it is now, they are two very different clubs.”
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