Leeds Rhinos Grand Final stalwart drafted in by England coach Brian McDermott to boost World Cup bid
A key member of Leeds Rhinos’ golden generation backroom team has been drafted on to the England staff for this year’s World Cup.
National coach Brian McDermott has confirmed Jason Davidson as his operations manager for the tournament in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, which begins next month. Davidson spent 17 seasons at Leeds in spells as head conditioner and team manager.
He joined the Headingley club in 2005 and was an influential figure in seven Grand Final victories - four of them under McDermott’s coaching - and three Challenge Cup triumphs before moving to Hull FC at the end of the 2022 campaign. He left Hull a year ago.
Former St Helens coach Paul Wellens and ex-Wigan Warriors star Sean O’Loughlin will be McDermott’s assistants, with Carl Jennings the high performance expert and Matty Daniels leading England’s strength and conditioning operation. Wellens is now an assistant-coach at NRL club North Queensland Cowboys and O’Loughlin has a similar role with Wigan.
McDermott, who coached Rhinos from 2011-2018 and is now an assistant at Gold Coast Titans, insisted: “The staff was a big one for me because I’m not going to do everything. I can’t do everything, I don’t want to do everything, but to keep the same message and to have the same philosophy about how you lead and how you want to play, you’ve got to spend time with your staff.
“When one of the squad members is talking to any one of the members of the staff, there can’t be any contradiction. There has got to be a consistent message and that has been the hard work for me.”
McDermott took charge in April, replacing long-serving boss Shaun Wane who stepped down after last year’s 3-0 Ashes Test series whitewash by Australia. His appointment was initially only for this autumn’s tournament, but speaking to the media today - he admitted he’s keen to stay on beyond that.
He said: “We’ve had very informal discussions and that’s all it is. It has been a really short conversation. Clearly, I’d like to do the job for longer. I’d like to get another crack at the World Cup in four years’ time.
“If you’re going to do this properly, then give me four years’ preparation where we’re building it up year by year and getting players connected to a programme which has got a start, a middle and end. This has been a crazy, crazy period over the last few months to try and coordinate all this - and I think we’re in good shape by the way - but I’ve made it no secret I’d like a crack at the next World Cup and a four-year build-up to that.”
McDermott added: “We haven’t gone too deep into those discussions and when you mention that, you think ‘no, no, let’s not talk about that. I’ve got to get my mind on this here’, so it has been mentioned, but I’m not chasing that just yet.”
England’s campaign begins against Tonga in Perth on Saturday, October 17. They play France a week later and meet Papua New Guinea in their final group fixture on Friday, October 30. England’s World Cup squad will be announced after the Betfred Super League Grand Final.