FORMER Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls hooker Matt Diskin has arrived at Oldham as the club’s new head coach on a two-year contract.
The Roughyeds have unveiled 37-year-old Diskin as boss to succeed Scott Naylor, whose seven-year stint ended with a Promotion Final win against Newcastle Thunder that elevated Oldham into the Betfred Championship next season.
As a player Diskin made 312 Super League appearances — 232 for Leeds between 2001 and 2010 and 80 for Bradford between 2011 and 2014 when he announced his retirement as a player.
At Odsal he cut his teeth in coaching with the under-19s and as an assistant on the first-team coaching panel.
He then took on his first head coach role at Championship club Batley Bulldogs where he signed a three-year deal which came to its conclusion at the end of this season.
“I learned a lot in my three seasons at Batley and I’m still learning,” said Diskin.
“Scott Naylor has done a fantastic job here and now the baton has been handed over to me to build on that and to turn Oldham into a long-term Championship side.
“It’s going to be tough, but it’s a challenge I’m really looking forward to.”
Club chairman Chris Hamilton said rugby league’s worst-kept secret was now out and he was proud and delighted to have Diskin on board for a minimum of two years.
He added:
“Matt is the first to admit that his first head coach’s role at Batley was a learning curve for him and that he is still learning, which is what you would expect.
“Among many other things, we were impressed in interview by his honesty because that’s the sort of club we are.
“There’s lots of hard work to be done now. We didn’t know until last Sunday which division we would be in next season.
“We’ve already started that work and Matt will have the full backing and support of the club.
“He joins us at a time when we’re moving up a division and the three years he has already experienced as a head coach at Championship level — and the lessons he has learned — will stand him in good stead.”
Diskin will have much more to say about his new job on this Roughyeds website tomorrow.
