Raiders bid to change fortunes with Aussie
THE Welsh rugby league club who were humiliated 144-0 earlier in the season, have appointed a highly-rated Aussie coach to try and resurrect their fortunes.
The Llanelli-based West Wales Raiders have lost all 13 of their matches in the Betfred League 1, including two defeats where they shipped more than a century of points.
The Raiders parted company with their coach Jon Ellis in the wake of the record-breaking 144-0 loss to York Knights at the end of April and have now appointed Australian-born Kim Williams for the start of the 2019 campaign.
A former high performance manager of NRL side Melbourne Storm, Williams is, say the Raiders, regarded as one of the best head coaches outside of the NRL.
Raiders’ director Andrew Thorne said: “The board and I are over the moon to have secured the full-time services of a quality coach like Kim Williams.
“Over the past 12 months the club has been working hard to establish the grass roots and player pathways from juniors to under 19s all linking to the first team, and as a result we have taken a bit of a hammering both on the pitch and on social media for it.
“However, we kept the course and now have a fantastic coach who will help develop the next phase of our strategy and that is to build a squad that the supporters and the sport can be proud of.
“Kim brings a wealth of experience and has coached at some of the most well-known clubs in Australia with the latest being Central Queensland Capras.
“I’m sure that Kim will have a completely different outlook on how the club can move forward and we are all excited to take things on.”
The club, established in 2009 as the South Wales Scorpions, has had a nomadic journey around South Wales, playing out of Neath, Caerphilly, Mountain Ash, Maesteg and more recently Merthyr, when they were rebranded as the Ironmen.
They took on the name of the Raiders in 2017 and based themselves at Stebonheath Park, the home of Llanelli Town AFC.
But their elevation into a league that contains former rugby league giants Bradford Bulls has proven to be a sobering experience.
The appointment of an Australian head coach is the latest attempt to breathe life into the sport in South Wales.
Williams has Welsh roots with his grandfather born in Swansea before emigrating to Australia.
He said: “I want to help establish West Wales Raiders as the premier rugby league club in Wales by building the foundations for sustained success.
“I am very proud of my Welsh heritage and see a great opportunity to help develop our great game in Wales.”