Former Great Britain international Lee Crooks strengthens Serbian national team for Rugby League World Cup 2013 qualifying campaign. Lee Crooks will, from the post of Technical Director, mentor and support Serbia’s head coach Marko Janković in next twelve months. During the same period, he will work on increasing of coaching level for local club trainers.
Lee Crooks earned 19 caps for Great Britain, including 3 tours to Australia over 17 year playing career in 1980s and 1990s and is one of the best European forwards of all times.
Final talks were held in London, behind the scenes of Warrington Wolves’ 30-6 victory over Leeds Rhinos in Carnegie Challenge Cup Final, at Wembley on 28th August. Previously, Lee Crooks spent a week in Serbia, where he had visited national U18’s camp and coaching course at Mt. Kopaonik. The second part of the visit consisted of presentation of local rugby league relations and preliminary talks about engagement in Serbia through RLWC qualifying cycle.
Lee Crooks, new Serbian RL Technical Director, commented: “I am very pleased and honored to be asked to take on the role of Technical Director for the Serbian RL. Having been over and met delegates from the league and also the Head Coach Marko Janković as well as some players and coaches I believe there is immense potential in the country.
The enthusiasm which has been shown by everyone tells me that the Serbian Rugby League want to progress, not only their national squads but also the game throughout the country. I am honored that they have looked upon me to help them achieve their goals and I see this as great opportunity for me to help deliver them.
I look forward to working not only with the national senior squad but also the junior players and also helping the coaches throughout the competition. We start with a clean slate and I am looking forward to the challenges which lye ahead and also working with Marko.”
Nebojša Sretenović, Serbian national rugby league team manager, said: “It is huge honour to announce that rugby league great, Lee Crooks, joins our team for qualifying period, hopefully even further. Having in mind Mr. Crooks’ rich experience, our head coach Marko Janković will certainly have high-class support and Serbian club coaches enough ’material’ to increase their own level and ensure our domestic based players quality development. We deeply believe that, with Mr. Crooks, we can increase the level of the both Serbian clubs and national team’s performances.“
Jovan Vujošević, Central Europe Regional Director of RLEF, commented on Lee Crooks’ engagement in Serbia: “The cooperation of rugby league legend, such as Lee Crooks, and Serbian federation is one of the evidences that the game is rapidly developing in Europe. This statement has support in the fact that the other RLWC qualifications participants also strengthen their coaching staff. It is going to be one of the most exciting qualifying tournaments ever, which will undoubtedly lead to powerful domestic development in respective countries.“
Alongside Serbia, national teams of Italy, Lebanon and Russia will compete in qualifying tournament for RLWC, which will be staged next year’s Autumn. Only one team from this tournament will qualify for the Rugby League World Cup 2013.