Moxon joins Kear’s team

BATLEY Bulldogs’ new coach John Kear has appointed a former colleague from Wakefield Wildcats, Mark Moxon, as his assistant at Mount Pleasant.

Kear moved quickly to make an appointment when Glen Morrison decided that he would be taking up a coaching post in Super League and turned down the chance to be player and assistant coach at The Bulldogs.

The Batley boss said: “Glenn decided to stay in Super League and that’s understandable. I know Mark Moxon going back to my days coaching with the joint Sheffield-Huddersfield club and he has worked under Warrington coach Tony Smith, so he has a good pedigree.

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“He’s been working on the Scholarship Scheme at Wakefield and with the Under-16s.

“I think he has a big future in coaching and am very pleased he has joined us, I know we can work well together for the benefit of the club.”

Moxon played 120 games for Hunslet Hawks, mainly at scrum-half, ending in 2009 after he had earned a reputation as a clever player.

Kear went on to say that he was considering adding another person to the backroom staff at Mount Pleasant in order to work more on developing the skills of the squad.

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The coaches had a meeting with the players on Monday when the only absentees were new prop Gareth Frodsham and centre Danny Maun, who were away. It meant 22 players were present, including two who are to be given trials with a view to agreeing pay-as-you-play terms.

Kear was typically enthusiastic about how things had gone at the meeting and said: “It went really well. We had a good chat about how we thought things should go and there was an enthusiastic response.

“I was absolutely delighted with their attitude and it was a very positive meeting. I am looking forward to working with them.

“Everybody now realises what we expect and we told them clearly what we were out to achieve. Naturally, after the last two years, with the club winning the Northern Rail Cup and then finishing third in the league, expectations are much higher.

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“The team fell a couple of games short last season in the Northern Rail and the play-offs but their displays have made Batley a team to watch out for and nobody will be taking us lightly, if anything the pressure is on.”

The Bulldogs will start training for the new season on November 7 which gives time to prepare for the Boxing Day Challenge against Dewsbury Rams, which this year is at Tetley’s Stadium.

The announcement of the Rugby Football League of the shake-up outside Super League with no relegation from the Co-operative Championship next year and four clubs promoted from Championship One to bring the number in the top division up to 14 has created general interest but not particularly with Kear.

He observed: “We are more concerned about what we can achieve rather than even thinking about relegation. Our aim is to do better than last year. That’s why our talk with the players was so positive and full of ambition on both sides.”

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Batley could be involved in an anglo-French competition next May.

The proposal is for the top four teams from the Championship and the French Elite League to be involved and as the Bulldogs finished third they will be included, although details have yet to be finalised.

Former Hunslet Hawks player-coach Paul March, who had talks at Batley, has joined Keighley Cougars, while Bulldogs’ hooker George Flanagan has moved across the valley to Dewsbury Rams.