Leeds assistant reveals head coach ambitions amidst Brad Arthur speculation

Jamie Langley has spoken of his desire to become a head coach one day – but for now is solely focused on helping Brad Arthur to make Leeds Rhinos a trophy-winning force again.

The 41-year-old former Bradford Bulls favourite arrived at Headingley during the off-season to join Arthur’s staff as an assistant coach.

Tasked primarily with defence, Langley has helped the Rhinos to an encouraging start to the season and, heading into the Easter fixtures, only Hull KR, Wigan and St Helens have conceded fewer points.

Langley was assistant to Danny Ward when London Broncos got promoted to Super League in 2018 and spent over three years at Sale Sharks before returning to rugby league with Leeds last autumn.

“I’m loving being back in rugby league at the Rhinos and have always had aspirations to one day become an elite head coach and oversee a world-class programme,” Langley told Love Rugby League.

“That’s ultimately the end goal but the immediate focus is to support ‘BA’, the staff and the players and help the club get back to being a serious contender.

“I began coaching at my local amateur club, Normanton Knights, and started coaching professionally 10 years ago as a player-coach at Sheffield Eagles and realised early on it was the path I wanted to pursue.

“My love for coaching borders on obsession and I’m constantly fascinated by it.

“The opportunity to run your own programme, install philosophies and ideas is what a lot of assistant coaches aspire to do and in that sense, I’m no different.

“Hopefully one day I will get that opportunity, but there’s no rush and I’m having a great time being back in Super League and doing my best for Leeds.”

Whether or not Langley gets the opportunity to be head coach at Leeds remains to be seen as conjecture continues to surround the future of Arthur.

He is only contracted to Leeds for this season amid speculation he could return to Australia at the end of 2025.

The Aussie recently admitted he remains keen to work in the NRL again and said his family would be a major factor in deciding his future.

Langley has no idea what Arthur’s decision may be but is enjoying working under the former Parramatta Eels boss.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work under some fantastic coaches – obviously BA being one of them,” said Langley.

“In my Academy days at Bradford, Bernard Dwyer coached me having just retired and I really loved my time under him.

“Daryl Shelford, another ex-Bradford player, was there at the time as well and was also fantastic.”

Langley broke through into a star-studded Bulls team who Brian Noble led to five successive Super League Grand Finals, winning three of them.

Langley remembered: “Nobby was very charismatic and a man of principle who instilled some strong values, standards and discipline in the organisation.

“I’ve carried those with me ever since and I was really fortunate to work under Mike Gregory around that time as well with the England Academy side for two years when we toured Australia and New Zealand.

“I loved working with Mike and we had a fantastic relationship – I loved his philosophies and what he stood for as a coach.”

Langley said he enjoyed working under Andrew Henderson at London and then Ward before crossing codes and joining Alex Sanderson’s coaching staff at Sale.

“Wardy put huge trust in me and I’ll always be really grateful for that,” said the Yorkshireman.

“With Alex at Sale, I learnt the importance of bringing creativity to your coaching.

“Al is exceptional – he’s one of the best in the world – and almost a genius at story-telling and bringing new ideas to the table.

“Working alongside BA here at Leeds, I have again learned the importance of giving the players absolute clarity and clear lines of accountability within the group.

“Obviously the players know that as coaches we care about them, but there is also no ambiguity or interpretation of what’s expected and I’ve really enjoyed working with BA.

“I’ve also got a lot of my own ideas, particularly about the holistic and psychological side of coaching, and would love to be able to put them into place one day as a head coach or director of rugby.

“I’m still young and have lots of ambitions I’d like to achieve, so I’ll see where my coaching journey takes me – but right now I’m loving my current role at Leeds.”