Wakefield Trinity are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Applegarth as Head Coach with immediate effect. Mark is currently Assistant First Team and Reserve Coach and Head of Youth at the club.
Mark is 37 and first joined Trinity, his hometown club, as a junior in 2000, signing professional terms in 2004. He played 47 times for the club before moving on to York City Knights. A two-year spell in Australia followed before a return to the UK and a successful spell with Batley Bulldogs. Mark then moved back to York where he finished his playing career as assistant coach.
Mark returned to Wakefield Trinity in 2015 as Player Performance Manager becoming Head of Youth in 2017. He combined this role with that of First Team Assistant and Reserve Coach during the 2022 season.
Mark holds a number of rugby league coaching qualifications as well as degrees in Applied Sports Performance Coaching and Post Graduate Teaching. Under his leadership numerous very talented young players such as Harry Bowes, Jack Croft, James Batchelor, Yusuf Aydin and Lewis Murphy have progressed through the youth ranks into the first team.
Wakefield Trinity Chairman John Minards said
“We are delighted to have appointed Mark as our new Head Coach. He is well respected across the whole club and widely regarded at one of the most talented young coaches in the game. His appointment comes at pivotal time for the club as we are undertaking a major redevelopment of our stadium and celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2023.
We are looking forward to working with Mark as we complete our coaching team and playing squad for the coming season.”
Full press conference with Mark Applegarth to follow this afternoon.