T'Other Side: Whitehaven

  

Head Coach: Jonty Gorley

 

Jonty Gorley became the head coach of Whitehaven in 2022. He succeeded Gary Charlton. Gorley had previously been assistant coach to Charlton at both Whitehaven and Workington Town. He played for Workington Town as a hooker between 1993 and 1997.

 

Captain: James Newton 

James Newton took over as the Whitehaven captain in mid-March this year. He made his professional début with Workington Town in 2012 but moved to Whitehaven in 2013. He has been at Whitehaven almost ever since, the exception being a return to Workington for the 2018 season. He has, so far, played 218 games for Whitehaven and scored 34 tries.

He usually plays at hooker but has been known to very occasionally play as a halfback or loose forward.

 

Loans and Dual Reg

 

Whitehaven currently have Gideon Boafo (wing from London Broncos) and Noah High (prop from Warrington Wolves) on loan. Dan Hindmarsh-Takyi (forward) has been on loan from Castleford Tigers but we are not clear whether he is still at Whitehaven. Earlier in the season they had Brett Bailey (forward from St. Helens), Nathan Connell (fullback from Salford Red Devils) and George Hill (hooker from Castleford Tigers) on loan. Evan Lawther is currently out on loan with Newcastle Thunder. As far as we know, they haven’t signed a dual-reg agreement for 2024.

 

 

The Fev connection

 

Very unusually, there are no players in the Whitehaven or Fev 2024 squads who have ever played for the other team.

 

Primarily for geographical reasons, there are comparatively few players who have played for both Fev and Whitehaven. We only know of 16 who have done so.

 

Danny Craven spent a season long loan at Fev in 2016 making 24 appearances, scoring 8 tries, kicking 5 goals and 1 drop goal. The positions of fullback, stand-off, scrumhalf and hooker are generally regarded as the ‘spine’ of a team and he played in all those positions while he was at Fev. In 2015 he played 2 games for Whitehaven on dual reg from Widnes.

 

Jon Grayshon played for Huddersfield Giants from 2002 to 2006 although he actually made his first grade début for Gateshead Thunder in 2002 whilst on loan from Huddersfield. In 2006 he played for Batley on loan and then in. After his time at the Giants he moved to Harlequins RL and whilst there also played for Widnes on loan. In 2010 he signed for Fev and in three seasons he played 75 games (mostly in the second row) and scored 27 tries. He retired from playing professionally at the end of the 2012 season but came out of retirement to play to play 5 games for Whitehaven in 2014.

 

Mel Mason, started his career in 1970 with Fev. He was primarily a stand-off but also played occasionally at scrumhalf. During his five seasons with Rovers he played 121 games, scored 374 tries and kicked 6 goals. He was a member of the 1973 Fev Challenge Cup winning team. In a match against Bramley in 1973 he scored 5 tries.

He was signed by Leeds in January 1975 and after two seasons there he moved up to Cumbria to play for Barrow from 1977 to 1983 before ending his career with a season at Whitehaven playing 15 times for them.