Whitehaven confirm 2025 leadership team with trio’s unique roles laid out
Whitehaven head coach Anthony Murray
Whitehaven have confirmed their leadership team for the upcoming 2025 League 1 campaign – uniquely consisting of a club captain, a team captain and a vice-captain.
Amid financial hardship, Haven were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2024 season by just a single competition point.
As a result, they’re now preparing for a first season in League 1 since 2019, and have a new head coach at the helm in the shape of Anthony Murray.
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Whitehaven confirm 2025 leadership team with trio’s unique roles laid out
Murray – who joined the Marras from fellow Cumbrian outfit Workington Town – has appointed 29-year-old Jordan Burns as his ‘team captain’.
Utility back Burns has also made the move to Haven from Workington, with this his second stint at the LEL Arena.
Scoring 52 tries in 109 appearances for the Marras between 2014 and 2019, the 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons with Workington under Murray’s tutelage.
Back-rower Connor Holliday meanwhile has been appointed as vice-captain for 2025. He is the only player remaining in Murray’s squad that donned a shirt for Haven in the Championship last season.
The 29-year-old has spent his entire career at the LEL Arena, featuring 176 times since his debut back in February 2015.
Elsewhere, Haven’s ‘club captain’ will be James Newton, who has played 238 games in the club’s colours to date and scored 34 tries in the process. He’s unlikely to be taking to the field anytime soon, hence the need for a ‘team captain’.
Newton, 33, fractured vertebrae in his neck during a win against Halifax Panthers at the end of September, and required surgery on the injury.
As he continues his recovery, the hooker will combine his role as ‘club captain’ with a new role in Murray’s backroom team.
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