Kyle Eastmond completes rugby league return after becoming Championship club’s head coach

Championship club Halifax Panthers have appointed of former dual-code England international Kyle Eastmond as their new head coach.

The 35-year-old has penned a three-year contract with Halifax, taking over the head coaching reins from Liam Finn, who departed The Shay upon the conclusion of the 2024 campaign to become Luke Robinson’s assistant coach at Super League side Huddersfield Giants.

Eastmond retired from playing professional rugby in 2021 and has since earned his coaching stripes across both codes, including spells with Rotherham Titans, Jersey Reds and Warrington Wolves.

“I’m really excited to be here,” said Eastmond upon his appointment at the Panthers.

“It’s been a couple of weeks organising ourselves but now we’re here and we’re sorted, I’m excited and looking forward now.

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“The conversations to bring me here were brilliant, I spoke with Richard (Durgan director of rugby) and Damian (Clayton, CEO) and it was really open and honest. They made me feel welcome straight away, and now it’s all done, I’m just excited to get on with things and start working.

“I’ve been here at The Shay plenty of times. And I’ve seen Halifax play quite a few times growing up at this stadium, I’ve got some good friends that played here and obviously, my cousin (Miles Greenwood) who played here too so it’s nice to be back.

“Growing up in rugby league in Oldham, you know all about the Championship. I spent plenty of my younger days travelling around watching the games, spent plenty of days up here watching good friends of mine and family members play so I’m well aware of how good the Championship is and of the challenge ahead. I’m looking forward to it.”

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Kyle Eastmond ‘excited’ to take on first head coaching role with Halifax Panthers

Oldham-born Eastmond came through the ranks at St Helens, scoring 39 tries in 74 games for the Saints between 2007 and 2011 as well as winning four caps for England before crossing codes to rugby union.

In union, Eastmond made more than 150 appearances for Bath, Wasps and Leicester Tigers between 2011 and 2020 whilst earning six caps for England. He returned to rugby league with Leeds Rhinos in 2021, but made the decision to hang up his boots after just two games.

And after spending a couple of years in the coaching world, Eastmond is excited to take on his first head coaching role.

“It’s my first time as a head coach but I think that’s another exciting opportunity,” he continued. “And also being at such a great rugby league club like Halifax, you can’t help but be excited about that.

“My aspirations short-term are just to get the team out there putting the hard work in, reaffirming our identity, and let’s get some enjoyment back into what we’re doing. We’ll get the foundations right and we’ll go from there.

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“I’ve had a different journey to a lot of rugby league coaches, or rugby league players, and like I said, I’ve had plenty of good coaching, plenty of different techniques and different ways to look at a game or dissect a game. And trust me, I’ll be trying to implement that into what we’re doing here.

“In terms of my experience, anything I can bring from outside of rugby league or with some of my network for looking at the game, I’ll be doing so.

“As a player, I was somebody that wanted to excite the fans, you know. I wanted to play in a positive and attacking mindset which is still there and trust me, that’s something that I expect. But also, I’m aware that that all starts with hard work and putting in the graft first, that is what is going to underpin this team.

“We’ll get there and we’ll entertain, there’s no doubt about that, but first and foremost we’re putting the hard work in.”

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