Brian McDermott to be named new England rugby league head coach this week

The former Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott will be named as Shaun Wane’s successor as head coach of the England men’s national team later this week.

McDermott, the most successful coach in Super League history having guided Leeds Rhinos to eight major honours during his time with the club, has seen off interest from the likes of Sam Burgess and the current Rhinos coach, Brad Arthur, to land the honour of taking England to this autumn’s Rugby League World Cup in Australia.

The 56-year-old is currently working in the NRL as an assistant coach at Newcastle Knights. However, he has been identified by the Rugby Football League (RFL) as the ideal man to succeed Wane, who parted company with the national team at the start of this year after a series whitewash at the hands of the Kangaroos in last year’s Ashes.

McDermott was on a five-man shortlist who were interviewed for the role last week by the governing body. Burgess, Arthur, St Helens coach Paul Rowley and the former England coach Steve McNamara, were the other names who made it through to the final stage of the application process.

The RFL had earlier identified the Hull KR coach, Willie Peters, as their primary target, with Peters admitting he would be open to holding talks over the role. However, his situation changed when he was appointed as the head coach of the Papua New Guinea Chiefs team that will enter the NRL in 2028, meaning he will return to Australia at the end of this year.

That prompted the governing body to conduct a wider search and it is understood Arthur was a strong contender. However, the RFL was keen to seek assurances that he would be coaching Leeds in 2027 as speculation lingers over a return to Australia for Arthur. At this stage, he is yet to reach a decision.

That led them to deciding that McDermott, who will be unveiled on Thursday, was the standout candidate. McDermott began his coaching career with London Broncos before an eight-year stay with Leeds, which saw him win every domestic trophy on offer, including an historic treble in 2015.

He later coached Toronto Wolfpack during their promotion-winning season of 2019 as well as having a short stint with Featherstone Rovers. But he will now take the national team job as England seek to win their first World Cup in more than 50 years.