Paul Cooke

February 2025 to October 2025

Paul Cooke first came to Featherstone as a veteran stand off during the 2015. He played ten games, directing operations in an inexperienced backline, before ending his professional playing days. Previously, he had an outstanding career at both Hull and Hull KR. He started at Hull in 1999, and career highlights included scoring the winning try in the Challenge Cup final in 2005 against Leeds, plus an appearance in the 2006 Super League Grand final. He also was capped three times by England. He had a successful spell at Hull KR before finishing his career at Wakefield, then Doncaster and finally Rovers. At Doncaster, he was player coach for a period, and continued after retirement, most notably as assistant Head coach at Leigh Centurions.

He came back to Post Office Road as assistant coach to James Ford towards the end of the 2024 season, and when Ford was sacked at the start of 2025 after a couple of poor results, Cooke took over for his first Head Coach role in the Championship. He had a difficult task on his hands from the outset with a crisis at half-back, the club losing three players in quick succession. He won only three of his first nine games in charge, and two of those games were 1895 cup ties. A spirited performance in defeat at Oldham turned the season around for the club who were in the relegation zone. When Ben Reynolds, back to full fitness, linked up with new signing Ryan Hampshire, the attacking shape of the side dramatically improved. Rovers won 11 of their next 14 fixtures, including a handsome win at Oldham in the 1895 Cup semi-final. Cooke became the third different coach to lead the club to the 1895 final, and the sixth different coach to take Featherstone Rovers to Wembley. A narrow defeat there was offset by continued league progress, but having secured a playoff spot, a thin squad badly hit by injuries and suspensions failed in the first round of the playoffs. Cooke left the club during the off-season’s financial problems.

2025: Won 16 Lost 12 = 57.14%