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Gerard Stokes (or Ged Stokes) is a New Zealand rugby league coach. He is currently the coach of Whitehaven RLFC in the Co-operative Championship and is also the coach of the Serbian national side.
Playing Career
Stokes began playing rugby league early in life, in high school he would sneak out of his boarding school in New Zealand every Saturday morning to play league for Canterbury.[1] He represented New Zealand eleven times and in 1982 played for Workington Town.
At aged 27, Gerard took his first coaching role as player-coach of Canterbury Club Marist.
Coaching and Canterbury
In 1994 he was appointed coach of the new Canterbury Country Cardinals in the Lion Red Cup. The team made the finals in 1994 but finished tenth the following two years. The competition folded after the 1996 season.
After this he was appointed head coach of the Canterbury Rugby League representative side, facing irregular provincial competition.[2]
In 2000 he coached the Canterbury Bulls to a victory in the inaugural Bartercard Cup grand final. He was also named New Zealand coach of the year that season.[1]
He applied to coach the Kiwis in 2001 but was overlooked for Gary Freeman.[3] Instead he was appointed Assistant Coach and a co-selector, working under Freeman and in 2003 he was in charge of the New Zealand 'A' tour of Great Britain.[4][5]
On the Move
In October 2003 Stokes applied to coach the new Wellington Franchise in the Bartercard Cup. However Stokes reportedly wanted too high a salary and a deal could not be reached with the club.[6]
Instead, at the end of the New Zealand 'A' tour, he was offered the opportunity to stay in England and coach his old club, Workington Town. The club was in a state of disrepair and only seven players were contracted to the club.[1] Stokes rebuilt the squad and in 2005 the side won the Northern Rail Cup. However he was later fired by the club over an alleged disciplinary breach, despite being cleared by a RFL investigation. The club later agreed to a £14,000 pay-off days before a court case bought by Stokes was due to be heard.[7]
Whitehaven RLFC
In early 2008 he was offered the job of coaching Whitehaven RLFC, Workington Towns bitter rivals, after coach Paul Crarey left the club citing personal health issues. [8] In late 2008 he traveled to Serbia and helped the national side prepare for the RLEF Euro Med Challenge.[9] This move quickly proved beneficial to his club side as Whitehaven signed young Serbian national Soni Radonovic in January 2009.[10]
References
- ^ a b c Caned Until I Bleed for Love of Rugby League The Whitehaven News, 15 May 2008
- ^ Stokes on alert for 'hit men' The Press, 1 May 1999
- ^ The Locker Room Workers Online, 23 February 2001
- ^ 2003 NZ A NZRL Official Site
- ^ Line-up is everybody's guess The Press, 2 July 2001
- ^ Stokes too costly for Wellington The Dominion Post, 14 October 2003
- ^ Ged Stokes is new Haven coach North-West Evening Mail, 28 March 2008
- ^ Stokes Pleased to be back in charge The Press, 26 April 2008
- ^ Whitehaven Coach Ged Stokes to Boss Serbian National Side Times & Star, 6 October 2008
- ^ Whitehaven RLFC are set to make a little RL history Whitehaven Official Site, 20 January 2009