St Helens appoint Brown

St Helens have announced Nathan Brown will become their new coach at the end of the season when his contract at Huddersfield expires.

The 38-year-old Brown, who is in his fourth season in Super League, will succeed fellow Australian Royce Simmons after he completes his commitments with the Giants in October.

Caretaker coaches Mike Rush and Keiron Cunningham, who have enjoyed outstanding victories over Leeds and Warrington since taking over from Simmons, are expected to stay in charge until the end of the season when Brown will take up a three-year contract.

St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus said: "We are extremely pleased that Nathan will be joining us next season.

"I believe he is ideally suited for the Saints both with regard to the way we want to play and as to what we aim to achieve in terms of success."

Brown added: "It's an honour to be appointed the head coach of St Helens. They are a great and historic club and continuously associated with success.

"I'm relishing the challenge for next season onwards. They have a strong first-team squad and more promising youngsters coming through their system, along with a great new stadium and training facility.

"That said, this season is all about Huddersfield Giants for me and it's good to get this announcement out of the way so that I can concentrate totally on the job at hand."

Huddersfield have already appointed assistant Paul Anderson as the successor to Brown, who joined them in 2009 after a 15-year association with St George as a player and coach.