‘I have enjoyed the 12 months’ - Liam Finn reflects on his first year as head coach with Dewsbury Rams

The Rams had only won twice in the 2022 league campaign before the club hierarchy came knocking at Finn’s door. It was probably too late for Finn, who was the assistant coach at Halifax Panthers when he got the call to take over, to produce a dramatic rescue-act at his former club and save their dire Championship season. But he has certainly controlled Dewsbury’s rebuilding mission of 2023 in League 1 with the expert assurance of someone who has had more experience in the head coach role than the mere 12 months he has had, which he celebrated as the Rams were thrashing Cornwall 30-6.

“I took over at a difficult time,” Finn reflected. “The team was struggling and morale was pretty low. The first 12 games were pretty tough and we didn’t get the initial response that we wanted to stay up which was a little bit disappointing.

“A fair few changes needed to be made and it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Come the end of the season we managed to recruit and retain a lot of the players that we wanted on a modest budget and, since then, we’ve been pretty positive and have moved forward, obviously at a lower level.”

“He added: “I have enjoyed the 12 months and am looking forward to trying to get over the line in these last four games.”

Finn signed a deal with the club until the end of this current season and he insists that no fresh talks will begin until he has been able to steer Dewsbury over the promotion-winning line.

He said: “We need to get the job done. It’s a tricky position for myself and the players but, ultimately, 95 per cent of the players and coaches at Dewsbury will only stay if we get up into the Championship.

“It’s tricky in terms of retaining players and staff but we can’t do anything until we get the job done and hopefully we can.”

Dewsbury are next in action against North Wales Crusaders on Sunday, July 23.

This is Part I of a special feature length interview with Liam Finn. Part II will be available on the Dewsbury Reporter at 2pm on Sunday, July 16.