Brown announces early exit from Huddersfield and heads home to Australia
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Your support makes all the difference.Huddersfield will lose their coach, Nathan Brown, at the end of the season – a year ahead of schedule. Brown, who led the Giants to Wembley and third place in Super League in his first season last year, has told the club he wants to return to Australia for family reasons.
"Of course, we are disappointed to receive Nathan's resignation at the year end, particularly as he has a year to run on his contract," said the club's chairman, Ken Davy. Brown has been linked with jobs in the National Rugby League, but said: "It's purely a family decision that I have to go home."
Halifax have reacted to their expulsion from the Challenge Cup by suspending their coach, Matt Calland. Calland, in charge at The Shay since 2006, was relieved of his duties yesterday after the Rugby League confirmed that the club had been kicked out for fielding an ineligible player. He said he was "devastated" by his suspension and would fight it.
Michael Ostick played in the fourth-round win at Swinton last month after playing for Rochdale in their defeat by Lezignan in the previous round. Halifax's fifth-round tie against Batley was called off on Sunday while the RFL began its investigation. Halifax have launched their own inquiry. "We are extremely disappointed by our disqualification from the Challenge Cup," said the club's chairman, Michael Steele. "We have no option but to accept the RFL board of directors' decision and move on."
The case has also been passed to the League's compliance manager, to decide whether Halifax will face a misconduct charge and a possible fine. "The rules regarding player eligibility for the Carnegie Challenge Cup clearly state that if any team is found to have fielded an ineligible player they will be disqualified from that year's tournament," said the RFL's chairman, Richard Lewis.
That means that Swinton will now play Batley next Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals against the Catalan Dragons.
Rochdale are claiming to have scored the fastest try ever in rugby league. Video of Danny Samuel's try against Swinton at the weekend has been timed at 7.9 seconds after kick-off.
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