Kelly Poised to Return to League at Helm of Leigh
Rugby league: Leigh want to tempt former Widnes coach Neil Kelly back from rugby union to replace Darren Shaw
Leigh are expected to look to the former Widnes and Dewsbury coach Neil Kelly to resurrect their bid for a Super League license after the resignation of their football manager, Darren Shaw, yesterday.
Kelly is keen to return to league after spending the last two years in rugby union as the defence coach of Ulster, and a track record which includes leading Widnes into the Super League for the first time in 2001 makes him the most obvious contender to take over at Hilton Park.
Leigh will move to a new 10,000-capacity stadium next season but their application for one of the three-year Super League licenses that will be awarded in July has been undermined by defeats in two of their first three Co-operative National League fixtures. They also went out of the Northern Rail Cup with a 36-10 defeat at Featherstone on Sunday which proved the last straw for Shaw, whose former assistant coach Paul Rowley will take temporary charge but does not want the job on a permanent basis, and could now work alongside Kelly.
Hull's scrum-half Richard Horne is undergoing tests on a neck injury sustained in last Friday's 24-8 home defeat by Bradford, a further blow both to Horne's hopes of earning a place in England's World Cup squad and to his struggling club. The 25-year-old had only just returned to Super League action after missing the first eight games of the season with a foot problem.
There was some good news, however, for the 11th-placed Hull yesterday ahead of Friday's trip to Castleford with their scrum-half Adam Dykes returning to training after a virus, and the second-row Danny Tickle signing a new two-year contract at the KC Stadium.
Warrington are in danger of having their prop and captain, Adrian Morley, suspended for Friday's trip to the Super League leaders, Leeds, in addition to the second-row Ben Westwood, who was sent off in Sunday's 16-2 defeat at his former club Wakefield for a high tackle minutes after returning from the sin-bin. Morley has been summoned to appear at a disciplinary hearing tonight on a charge of a careless high tackle.
Kelly is keen to return to league after spending the last two years in rugby union as the defence coach of Ulster, and a track record which includes leading Widnes into the Super League for the first time in 2001 makes him the most obvious contender to take over at Hilton Park.
Leigh will move to a new 10,000-capacity stadium next season but their application for one of the three-year Super League licenses that will be awarded in July has been undermined by defeats in two of their first three Co-operative National League fixtures. They also went out of the Northern Rail Cup with a 36-10 defeat at Featherstone on Sunday which proved the last straw for Shaw, whose former assistant coach Paul Rowley will take temporary charge but does not want the job on a permanent basis, and could now work alongside Kelly.
Hull's scrum-half Richard Horne is undergoing tests on a neck injury sustained in last Friday's 24-8 home defeat by Bradford, a further blow both to Horne's hopes of earning a place in England's World Cup squad and to his struggling club. The 25-year-old had only just returned to Super League action after missing the first eight games of the season with a foot problem.
There was some good news, however, for the 11th-placed Hull yesterday ahead of Friday's trip to Castleford with their scrum-half Adam Dykes returning to training after a virus, and the second-row Danny Tickle signing a new two-year contract at the KC Stadium.
Warrington are in danger of having their prop and captain, Adrian Morley, suspended for Friday's trip to the Super League leaders, Leeds, in addition to the second-row Ben Westwood, who was sent off in Sunday's 16-2 defeat at his former club Wakefield for a high tackle minutes after returning from the sin-bin. Morley has been summoned to appear at a disciplinary hearing tonight on a charge of a careless high tackle.
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