Following the departure of Ryan O’Brien from his role as assistant coach and performance manager, Widnes Vikings have taken the opportunity to restructure the support group to work alongside head coach John Kear.
Firstly, we welcome Mike Grady as an assistant coach. Grady brings a wealth of experience to Widnes Vikings, which is his hometown club.
He has held the head coach position at North Wales Crusaders, South Wales Scorpions and Wales Dragonhearts. In addition, he has also been assistant coach at Newcastle Thunder and had representative experience coaching Wales U18s and U19s.
More recently, Grady was assistant coach at Rochdale Hornets.
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In his early coaching career, he was in the coaching group of the Widnes Vikings scholarship setup, so it is a case of ‘welcome home’ to Mike!
The Board of Directors are pleased that John Kear has been able to attract a proactive, diligent and enthusiastic coach to his team.
Also moving into a role as an assistant coach is Neil Belshaw, who has been involved with the club as a volunteer since 2012, apart from a short spell away.
He was part of the coaching group that brought many successes to our academy, belying the belief that the Vikings would not be able to compete with ‘big club’ academies.
In recent years, Belshaw has continued to volunteer with the first team, both at training and match days in a variety of vital roles. Head coach John Kear and the Board of Directors are delighted that Neil has agreed to step up into his new position position.
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Completing the changing composition of the support staff, Liam Clark has taken on an enhanced role for him as team manager, which encompasses all aspects of matchday logistics and arrangements.
Clark has served the club well over a number of years at all levels, including both with the rugby and foundation.
Once again, head coach John Kear and the Board of Directors are pleased that Liam has agreed to continue to offer his experience and expertise to our playing environment.
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