Hunslet coach agrees to stay on - and targets promotion to the Championship

The former Batley Bulldogs, Doncaster and Castleford Tigers academy boss joined Hunslet in 2017 and has signed a open-ended contract extension covering next year.

The Parksiders were top of the table when the season was halted and then abandoned after just two rounds because of coronavirus.

Thornton is now working on retaining and recruiting players for next year and said: “I was delighted to be able to resolve my own future with the board.

“There’s a job to be seen through here. It was very disappointing, after we’d had such a good pre-season, to have the action being brought to a halt.

“That was especially so as our last match, in the third round of the Challenge Cup at Championship favourites Featherstone Rovers, involved our only defeat, from which we learned quite a few valuable lessons.

“We were chomping at the bit to put what we’d learned from Featherstone into practice, but we didn’t get the opportunity as the lockdown dragged on.

“Now, though, we have a straight edge and we can at least begin to prepare properly for next season.”

Thornton is hopeful of retaining most - and possibly all - of his current squad.

“I’ve been in the game long enough to know we have a very good squad in place, made up of good characters,” Thornton added.

“We’d like to kick on from where we left off, not least for our fans and for everyone else who is involved with this club.”

Hunslet are a supporter-run outfit and Thornton insisted: “I’ve also been able to stress to the players, with every justification, what a superb board we have in place here.

“I’ve seen at first hand the way they have steered us through the stormy financial waters caused by Covid-19, while making sure that the players’ interests are looked after.

“They’ve kept Hunslet in very reasonable shape and I take my hat off to them.

“I’m very impressed, and that’s an extra incentive for everyone to not only stay, but to pay this club back.

“I’ll certainly be striving to repay the faith that’s been shown in me with tangible results on the pitch next year.”

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