{"id":421198,"date":"2026-01-18T12:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421198\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:41:08","slug":"midlands-hurricanes-secure-coaches-on-long-term-contracts-total-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421198\/","title":{"rendered":"Midlands Hurricanes secure coaches on long-term contracts \u2013 Total Rugby League"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MIDLANDS HURRICANES managing director Eorl Crabtree believes the agreement of long-term contract extensions with coach Mark Dunning and his assistant Leigh Beattie provides a cornerstone for further embedding the club \u2013 and Rugby League \u2013 in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The pair, who previously worked together at Bradford and are part of the Scotland coaching set-up, have committed to 2029 as the Hurricanes takes up residence at a new ground at Avery Fields, home to Bournville Rugby Union Club in the south-west of the so-called \u2018second city\u2019.<\/p>\n

Former Bradford coach Dunning took the Midlands reins in mid-2023, with Beattie following soon after, and their charges finished fifth in League One for the last two years running.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted that we\u2019ve been able to secure Mark and Leigh for the next few years,\u201d said Crabtree, the former Huddersfield and England forward who has been in post for a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetaining a coach and assistant of their quality is hugely important for this club and sends a clear message about the stability, progression and clear direction of Midlands Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our move to Avery Fields, we\u2019re entering an exciting new chapter as a club and having Mark and Leigh committed is a key part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have alignment across the board, from our home base and facilities through to our coaching, playing philosophy and long-term ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat shared vision is vital as we look to the next stage of the Hurricanes\u2019 progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continuity they provide allows us to keep building properly, develop players, strengthen our culture and play a central role in growing Rugby League across the Midlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor everyone connected to the club, this is a really positive step forward and I\u2019m excited about what we can achieve together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Championship ins and outs: Every transfer for 2026 season<\/a>Hull KR handed amateur trip as Challenge Cup third-round draw revealed<\/a>Midlands Hurricanes move to new stadium with immediate effect<\/a>Midlands Hurricanes sign ex-Salford forward Isaac Shaw<\/a>Midlands Hurricanes keen to ride Birmingham ‘sporting wave’<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIDLANDS HURRICANES managing director Eorl Crabtree believes the agreement of long-term contract extensions with coach Mark Dunning and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-421198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}