Rugby League

Rugby-League.com

Championship

11 Jul 2023

Keighley Cougars appoint Matt Foster as new Head Coach

Keighley Cougars appoint Matt Foster as new Head Coach

Betfred Championship side Keighley Cougars have announced the appointment of Matt Foster as the club's Head Coach.

Foster spent 11 of his 13 professional seasons with the Cougars and was a consistent force for the club as a centre/full back and now returns in a coaching capacity. Matt is also third in the Cougars all time try scorers with a total of 124 in 208 games.

He has spent the last 10 years as coach at Burleigh Bears and in his time there worked with the Queensland Cup First Team and A Grade side, securing six Grand Final appearances and three wins with the latter.

Speaking of his desire to return to Keighley, Matt said: “This all happened within 36 hours or so. I’ve been following Keighley this season from the Gold Coast and when the phone call came through last week it was a fairly quick and easy decision for me to make.

“I am looking forward to meeting the players and understanding their strengths and weaknesses as well as reintroducing myself to the fans. I left in 2007 and I still see the hardened followers on social media and I am just looking forward to getting my hands dirty and getting straight in with the boys to create a positive end to the season.

“The opportunity to coach at Keighley is something I dreamed of 15 years ago when I left for Australia. These opportunities don’t come around very often and I am happy to be on board with the team.”

Cougars CEO, Ryan O’Neill, added: “Firstly I just want to thank Jy-mel (Coleman) for stepping in to cover the interim head coach role. Jy-mel has handled himself professionally and in the toughest of circumstances has done the job we asked him to do and for that the club will be ever grateful. Our search for a permanent head coach has come to a conclusion and I look forward to welcoming Matt back to Cougar Park.”

Foster will take charge of the Cougars for this weekend's fixture against Widnes Vikings.