UNDERBANK ACE SAYS RL COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD IS RECOGNITION FOR EVERYONE AT CLUB Knight gets

charge of the club for the first time towards the end of the 2008 season, Underbank were struggling in the old National League III summer competition.

But he steered them to four successive Grand Finals before embarking on an amazingly successful switch to the National Conference League, when the competition took the decision to move from a winter to a summer season.

After two seasons in Division III, his Rangers secured promotion to the Second Division via the play-offs and then took them straight up to Division I the following season by a similar route.

After just scraping into that division, Underbank were immediately installed as one of the favourites for relegation at 28-1 at the end of the 2017 season.

But instead, Knight and his side defied all the odds by finishing second in the competition two wins behind champions Hunslet Parkside – to earn their place in amateur rugby league’s top flight for 2018.

To cap that off, Knight was also appointed assistant coach to the England Lions squad – which is selected from all the amateur players in the English game, including the Students and Armed Forces – on a three-year contract this summer and will tour Australia and New Zealand with them in the next couple of years.

However, Knight admits picking up the Coach of the Year award is the icing on the cake.

“I’m obviously grateful and proud to be recognised in this way,” said Knight, who collected his award ahead of Saturday’s Super League Grand Final between newly-crowned champions Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers at Old Trafford.

“A lot of hard work has been put in by a lot of people at this club over the past decade to get us to where we are now, and I know how lucky I am to be associated with them.

“I suppose you could say I was in the right place at the right time to take over at Underbank during the 2008 season, because we already had the basis of a good squad in place.