Huddersfield Giants have appointed a new head of strength and conditioning for the 2016 season.
John Noonan has been handed a two-year contract after previous roles in rugby league, with Yorkshire Carnegie in rugby union, Olympic snowsports and football (with Chelsea, Hull City and Scunthorpe United).
The Huddersfield-based 30-year-old will replace Greg Brown, who is to focus more time on his own business. Rehabilitation co-ordinator Matthew Green is also leaving.
“We undertook an extensive search process for this vital position and John was a clear winner for me,” said coach Paul Anderson.
“He has an outstanding CV and vast experience at the elite level in a number of sports which appealed to me.
“I was looking for a fresh approach and a different angle, We have done very well to establish ourselves in the top six of the competition but, as someone once said, if we keep doing the same things we’ll keep getting the same results, so I was keen to freshen things up and bring new people into the environment with new ideas to challenge us all.
“Gone are the days when Huddersfield are satisfied with high finishes, I want us to be in the finals and competing for silverware, which this year we sadly didn’t do.
“We’ll shortly be adding to the conditioning team in terms of both personnel and back-up support, and my remit to John is simply to make us stronger and fitter than we have ever been so we can be a team that has a genuine physical identity that’s recognised in the game.”
Noonan is already preparing for his new Super League challenge, and will have a big role to play at the start of pre-season training, which gets under way on Monday, November 9.
