WAKEFIELD TRINITY have further underlined the bold ambitions for their youth department with the appointment of Kieron Purtill as academy head coach.

Purtill has left Leigh Leopards, where over three years he helped set up an entirely new academy set-up while also coaching the women’s team.

The former Huddersfield Giants, Leigh and Widnes Vikings head coach will coach Wakefield’s under-18s as part of an improving youth structure.

In October, the club recruited two highly-rated figures from Leeds Rhinos in John Bastian, who has become head of youth, and Simon Bell, as head of talent, recruitment and operations.

“The vision of the club and what Matt (Ellis, owner) and his family have done for the club since taking over, not only with the first team but in the community, made the decision to come here a very easy sell,” said Purtill.

“I’ve left my hometown club where I had a lot of connections and set a lot of things up, and that was difficult. But I’m really looking forward now to a new challenge and buying into the vision at Wakefield.

“Simon and John have lots of experience in the field and have been doing it successfully for a number of years. Getting them on board was a big statement of the direction the club wants to go in, and getting the chance to work with them is exciting from my point of view.

“There’s a crop already coming through to the first team which is exciting, but the group underneath I’ve heard nothing but good things about.

“Their attitude is superb, and their willingness to learn and turn up every single day – those are the basic ingredients. Then it’s up to me to improve their skill and knowledge of rugby, to educate them around that and around life.

“It’s not an easy journey for a rugby player. My job is to mentor those players, get them where they need to go, and hopefully we’ll have some success with it.”

Ste Mills, Trinity’s director of rugby, said: “We’re over the moon to bring a man of Kieron’s experience on board in our youth department to head up the academy.

“Having previously worked with Kieron (when Mills was head of performance analysis at Leigh), I know he is the perfect fit for this role and as part of the coaching set-up that we have here at Wakefield.

“He is a consummate professional and will continue alongside John Bastian, Simon Bell and the rest of the coaching set-up to push Trinity’s youth teams forward.”

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