BAILDON’S new Director of Rugby, Jake Duxbury has expressed his delight with the arrival of former Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls star Glenn Morrison at the club.

The Australian has taken a role in the rugby union side’s coaching setup following his dismissal from Bradford Salem at the end of last season.

Duxbury’s position change from Head-Coach to Director of Rugby opened the door for Morrison to step into the club and the former rugby league star left no stone unturned when laying down his ideas to the newly appointed DOR.

Duxbury said: “Me and Glenn went for a coffee and had a fantastic chat where we literally discussed rugby for three hours, and it was great to hear his ideas, philosophies and plans for Baildon Rugby Club.

“He, of course, has a fantastic CV having had an illustrious playing career in rugby league. As a rugby fan, I watched Glenn and he was a great player, so to have someone like him on board with the club is fantastic.”

Duxbury added: “We both share similar ideas in how we view the club moving forward, which involves the players’ needs and welfare. We’re growing as a club in terms of how many players we get at training; some days in pre-season we had 38 players in training which bodes very well for the future. We are building a very strong 1st and 2nd team and the goal will be to continue pushing both squads so that we can become even more competitive.”

Morrison was recently appointed as Head of Academy at Bradford Bulls, so he’ll be working with both Baildon and the Betfred Championship side, but Duxbury sees no cause for concern with the proposition of that.

He said: “Firstly, it shows the calibre of person we have acquired for him to be getting that role at such a big rugby league club.

“To add to that, the league season doesn’t start until after the new year so Glenn will be able to work with us and coach the boys throughout thus season. Also, our training days fit in well with his role at Bradford when their season gets underway after the new year, so we have no concern on that front.

“All-in-all, it’s a great appointment for ourselves and we are very excited with his arrival.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Glenn Morrison, who has joined Baildon's coaching setup, played at Odsal between 2007 and 2009 Glenn Morrison, who has joined Baildon's coaching setup, played at Odsal between 2007 and 2009 (Image: Bradford Bulls)

Baildon has started the season well, winning two out of their opening three Counties 2 Yorkshire fixtures and despite losing their latest encounter away at Dinnington, Duxbury has been encouraged with what he’s seen.

He said: “It was a disappointing result last time out as it’s never nice to lose, but we were facing a team who’d just been relegated from the division above.

“The first two performances were encouraging, though as some of our play was very inline with what we’ve been working on in training. We want to play some quick, expansive and attacking rugby and we are seeing signs of it in the early stages of the season. We’ll continue to work to try and reach the best version of ourselves.”

Baildon return to action today when they host Leeds Corinthians, 3pm.