Liam Finn to play for Newcastle Thunder in 2019

Ireland captain Liam Finn will combine his new coaching role at Wakefield with playing for League 1 side Newcastle Thunder in 2019.

Finn, 34, is currently on loan at Widnes before returning to Belle Vue at the season’s end.

He said: “I’m not really ready to hang my boots up yet and Jason asked if I would be interested in coming to Newcastle and he sold the club to me, what he thought I would bring and what we could do together next season.

“In terms of my role, I’ll be looking to help control the team, help other people to play well and understand their roles and then move people around the field so they don’t have an awful lot to think about when they are playing.

“It’s not something that I’ve really done before, play outside the rugby league corridor so I started to get really excited about it and it is a fantastic opportunity to help some lads from outside the rugby league heartlands to improve and to try and help the club to where it wants to be.”

Finn has scored more than 2,500 points in a 16-year career, as well as playing 24 tests for Ireland, captaining them at the 2017 World Cup.
Thunder coach Jason Payne said: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to sign Liam for 2019, he is exactly what we have been after for a while.

“He is an experienced half who can get us around the field and control the game for us and there’s no better than that than Liam. I genuinely believe that in terms of controlling a game, composure and decision making, all them vital parts of the game, he is still one of the best in Super League so we’re really lucky to have him and really excited for what he will bring.

“Getting him signed for next season has happened pretty quickly. Michael Carter and Chris Chester were both great when we went to speak to them about the possibility of getting Liam here, they were really good about it and understood if he wanted to carry on playing.

“We then progressed things pretty discreetly and luckily it’s come off for us.”