BY JOHN DAVIDSON
New Keighley coach Alan Kilshaw has described the club as a “sleeping giant” and insists the struggling Cougars are ready to shoot up the League 1 ladder.
Keighley have not won a game yet in 2025 with six defeats from six games. They are ninth on the table, just above last-placed Newcastle on points difference.
Former Swinton, Hunslet and Rochdale boss Kilshaw was appointed as the Cougars’ coach on March 31.
He left his position as director of coaching and development of Oakey Bears in Queensland after just four months in Toowoomba.
Kilshaw says his experience in Australia was positive but that the opportunity at Keighley was too good to ignore.
“My experience in Australia was really good, both on and off the field,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“Obviously it’s a footy-oriented county, but as a family we got to experience some really good things in the short time we were there. My eldest son played in the Adrian Vowles Cup and played in the Dream Team as fullback. That was really good.
“In terms of the coaching, it was really good for me. Hands-on and I got to work with Ash Taylor, who’s an ex-NRL player, and some other well-established ex-NRL players and players from the local competition.
“They’re only going to challenge you and make you a better coach. I got on really well with Ash and he’s taken the reins since I left. He’s worked with some big coaches like Wayne Bennett.
“[But] I probably wasn’t happy with everything off the field with the club, and then some talks started with Keighley. And then even though we’d made the big move it was just an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.
“Keighley is a sleeping giant. I know we’re at the bottom of the barrel at the minute but we’re ready to shoot up.
“I feel that the owners are passionate and they put their money where their mouth is. Steve Watkinson is a really good operator and the club is just really well-resourced, it’s a great squad.
“It’s an opportunity for me to come and really do something with the club, and that made up our minds really. Obviously it was a hard decision, but in football-terms the size of the club and the opportunity was something that we couldn’t turn down.”
Keighley were relegated from the Championship at the end of 2023 and then finished second in League 1 in 2024.
Last year in July Matt Foster was sacked as head coach, and replaced by Jake Webster, before Webster stepped down from the role two months ago.
“Keighley have fallen away in recent years,” Kilshaw admitted.
“They had that undefeated season but missed out on promotion and have no wins this year at the moment. I feel like I can come in and put my stamp on things.
“We’re always looking to improve but there’s some quality players there, some experienced players, ex-NRL, ex-NZ internationals, and I need to get the best out of them.
“I just want to get them playing, get them enjoying it. Get the culture right, get some toughness into the team.
“We can’t look behind the next game, we need to look at the next session, be present and try and improve. We’ve had really rotten injury luck and that’s probably impacted the results in the past two games.
“They’re all things we’re looking at. To improve the team we need to be mentally and physically tougher, we need that change in culture.
“It doesn’t just happen overnight – over the course of the season hopefully we can improve to a level where we’re challenging in that top four.
“There’s 12 games to go. There’s two weeks now where we want to strip back and do a mini pre-season.
“We’ll look at our game plan and maybe bring in one or two players on loan to boost the team. There needs to be changes on and off the field and I’ll be driving that.”
