Rhys Lovegrove (born 11 March 1987) is an Australian rugby league coach who is the head coach of Jamaica and assistant coach at the London Broncos in the Betfred Championship and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s.
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Rhys Houston Lovegrove[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 11 March 1987||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 16 st 3 lb (103 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Prop, Second-row, Loose forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As of 16 Oct 2024 |
He played for the Bradford Bulls, Hull Kingston Rovers and the London Broncos, primarily as a second-row forward and occasionally as a prop. After retiring from playing Lovegrove moved into coaching and took up his first head coaching role as the head coach of the Keighley Cougars at Cougar Park in June 2019.
Background
editLovegrove was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
A Como Jannali Crocadiles junior who, while attending Endeavour Sports High School, played for the Australian Schoolboys Team in 2004.[4]
Playing career
editHe was initially signed by the Hull Kingston Rovers on loan from the St George-Illawarra Dragons until the end of the 2007 Super League season, but then made the move permanent. In September 2014, he joined the London Broncos.[5]
He was named in the Scotland Training Squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[6] but he was forced to withdraw through injury.[7]
Coaching
editBradford Bulls
editIn August 2016 he announced his retirement due to injury from playing to join the coaching staff at the Bradford Bulls.[8]
Keighley Cougars
editFollowing periods on the coaching staff at Bradford and Doncaster, Lovegrove joined Keighley Cougars as assistant coach in January 2019 and was appointed as head coach in June 2019 following the sacking of Craig Lingard the previous month.[9]
In 2022 Lovegrove coached Keighley to a perfect season as the Cougars won promotion from League 1 to the RFL Championship and was named as League 1 coach of the year in the RFL end-of-season awards.[10]
Lovegrove left Keighley in May 2023, by mutual consent.[11]
London Broncos
editHe joined the London Broncos as assistant coach in June 2023.
Hull KR
editOn 19 Oct 2023 he returned to Hull KR in the role of assistant coach[12]
References
edit- ^ Companies House
- ^ loverugbyleague
- ^ Rugby League Project
- ^ "SportingPulse Homepage for Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League". SportingPulse. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
- ^ "Rhys Lovegrove: London Broncos sign Hull KR forward". BBC Sport. 5 September 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ "Henderson trio in Scots cup squad". BBC. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
- ^ "Heckenberg out of the World Cup". Quins. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.[permanent dead link ]
- ^ "London Broncos sign Jay Pitts from Bradford Bulls". Sky Sports. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
- ^ "Keighley Cougars appoint Rhys Lovegrove as head coach". Keighley News. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ "Ipape and Miller named Players of the Year". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Keighley coach in surprise departure". LoveRugbyLeague. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Former Hull KR favourite returns to Craven Park in new coaching role: 'I really wanted this to be the next stage of my career'". Love Rugby League. 19 October 2023.