Jon Sharp

July 2015 to July 2017

Unlike most of his immediate predecessors when Jon Sharp took over as Rovers coach he already had a raft of  head coaching experience having being head coach at super league Huddersfield Giants for several years.  At the time of his appointment he was working as a coaching consultant and had previously assisted at Rovers after David Hobb’s departure.  He also had the dubious privilege of being controller of referees at the RFL.

Jon Sharp grew up in Featherstone and his grandad had been groundsman at Post Office Road.  Growing up he supported Rovers and played rugby at Travellers Saints.  At 17, he signed for Hull and made his debut ironically against Featherstone at Post Office Road in December 1984.  After a long playing career at Hull he signed for Featherstone in 1995.  He played 27 games before retiring and taking up coaching.  

His immediate task was to lift morale at the club following failure to qualify for the Super 8’s.  His first three games were all defeats including a 29-0 thrashing at home by Whitehaven.  Defensive frailties had cost Andy Hay his job and these three defeats highlighted the areas that Sharp needed to address.  Two weeks later Whitehaven were the first opposition in the Championship Shield competition and Rovers managed to turn the result around though still conceded 30 points at home.  Rovers went on to win 7 out of the next 8 games and then win the Shield final against London Broncos at the Halton Stadium, Widnes.  

The task for the 2016 season was to qualify for the Super 8’s with a changed squad that now had Sharp’s stamp on it.  Things stared well but a mid-season slump saw Rovers needing to win their last 4 games to finish in the top 4.  In a stirring finish to the regular season they did it but the Super 8’s proved a disappointment with some heavy defeats and failure to win a game.  Rovers looked some way off being able to win through to gain promotion though with more investment in the squad for 2017, this perhaps offered a more realistic prospect.   

Despite the odd blemish no heroics were needed in 2017 and top 4 was secured with two games to go but losing both these games resulted in a 4^th place finish.  Given the investment made in the team Chairman Mark Campbell felt the side had underperformed and that Sharp hadn’t got the best out of them.  Nevertheless it was a slight surprise when Sharp was replaced by Jon Duffy before the start of the Super 8’s.

2015: Won 8 Drew 0 Lost 2 = 80.00%

2016: Won 16 Drew 0 Lost 16 = 50.00%

2017: Won 18 Drew 1 Lost 7 = 71.15%

Total: Won 42 Drew 1 Lost 25 = 62.50%