Newcastle appoint Mantelli as head coach

Newcastle Tunder have appinted Australian Michael Mantelli as their new coach, as they begin their preparations for the 2016 season.

Mantelli has been the head and assistant coach of Canberra Raiders‘ Under-20s team, and was also the assistant coach to the Italy squad at the 2013 World Cup.

“On moving to the UK and seeing the vacancy at Thunder, the opportunity to work at a club with first class facilities was interesting and I am thrilled to have been appointed,” Mantelli told Thunder’s official website.

“The club is one that has shown some promise and there is definitely something to build on and work on with the right mix of players, who want to be here and contribute.

“We’ll play a disciplined but structured standard, they will use the ball outside their 40 and will be allowed to play and in between their own 40 and try line they will be expected to be very clean and very disciplined about what they do.”

Thunder chairman Bill Midgely is pleased that Mantelli is relocating to the North East of England.

“I’m delighted to welcome Michael on board as Thunder head coach, he is a vastly experienced coach whose background is one of achieving success at various levels both as a player and as a coach,” he said.

“We were genuinely impressed by the quality of all the candidates who applied for the role, and I’d like to thank everyone who applied, but with Michael in the process of relocating to the North East, we felt having a locally based coach would be a distinct advantage for the club.”