Wakefield Trinity have strengthened their youth coaching set-up by bringing in a former Leigh Leopards player, as Kieron Purtill joins the club.
Purtill, who until recently was the Head of Youth at Leigh, as well as their Women’s Super League boss, will now exit both those roles to join Trinity and Daryl Powell.
The former Leopard made his debut as a player in 1999, and went on to make 57 appearances for the club, however injury forced him into retirement at an early age, and that is when he turned to coaching.
After having assistant roles at St Helens, Hull KR and Huddersfield Giants, the latter of which he was also a caretaker boss in Super League, he landed his first full-time head coach role at the Leopards, after taking over from Neil Jukes in 2018, who left his role just four games into the season.
Since then, he had a year-long spell at Widnes Vikings, before moving back to Leigh to take up the aforementioned roles.
He will now exit the Leigh Sports Village once again though, and will move to West Yorkshire to be Wakefield’s academy head coach, in another move by the club that highlights their progression, both on and off the field.
Commenting on his move, Purtill said: “I’m really excited to get started in this new role.
“The vision of the club and what Matt 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.
“I’m looking forward to a new challenge and buying into the vision that has been set here at Wakefield.”
Ste Mills, Wakefield’s Director of Rugby, added: “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, 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 setup to push Trinity’s youth teams forward.”
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