FORMER Warrington Wolves prop forward Garreth Carvell has a new job in Super League.

Promoted Leigh Centurions have appointed him as the club’s new head of rugby.

Carvell, 40, will have a wide-ranging role, supporting operations manager Neil Jukes and head coach John Duffy and his coaching and support staff.

He will be responsible for all aspects of player welfare, recruitment, discipline and RFL issues and have a pivotal role in the club’s application for an academy licence.

It is a 'challenging' new post for a man who had a stellar playing career that stretched over three decades and covered nearly 20 years.

With The Wire, he formed a commanding partnership up front with captain Adrian Morley in a Tony Smith side that enjoyed considerable success.

His career began at Leeds Rhinos, though, in the late 1990s and ended at Featherstone Rovers in 2015.

He played nearly 300 Super League games for Leeds, Gateshead Thunder, Warrington Wolves, Hull FC and Castleford Tigers and appeared in two Grand Finals and five Challenge Cup Finals.

A key member of the Hull FC side that beat Leeds in the memorable 2005 Challenge Cup Final at Cardiff, he later played in three Warrington cup-winning teams at Wembley in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

He was a member of the Warrington squad which won the League Leaders' Shield for the first time in the Super League era in 2011, and was selected in the Super League Dream Team that year.

On the international stage he represented Wales in the 2000 World Cup, Great Britain in the 2006 Tri-Nations and England in the 2010 and 2011 Four Nations tournaments and later had an assistant coaching role with Wales.

Since his playing retirement he was appointed player welfare officer, later head of youth and in an assistant coach’s role at Salford Red Devils before re-launching and heading the Rugby League Players Association in January 2018 with backing from the GMB Union to a position where it now has over 900 members.

Carvell said: “I’m looking forward to an exciting and no doubt challenging 2021.

“Leigh is a club with a great history and tradition and the supporters are very passionate about the club and the game.

"Our immediate focus and challenge is to stay in Super League, enjoy the experience and build the club on and off the field. There are some great people involved in the club and I shall be working closely with them to achieve our goals.

“My time at Salford and with the Rugby League Players Association has given me a good grounding in many aspects of the game since my playing career ended and I intend to fully play my part in the team effort to ensure Leigh Centurions takes full advantage of this great opportunity.”

Centurions owner Derek Beaumont said: “As a result of the successful application to the Betfred Super League, a lot of additional work we want to undertake was identified, in order to build a successful and sustainable Super League club.

“Although it wasn’t contained as part of our bid in the revised operational structure of a successful application, I always had it in mind after tentative talks with Garreth to appoint a head of rugby.

"Given my knowledge of Garreth’s skills and experience, along with a reassuring chat with my good friend Marwan Koukash, his former employer, he was the ideal candidate to approach.

“I like to employ ex-players where possible in the club, given their obvious understanding of the game.

"Garreth has already proven himself in various roles of the game and has a proven track record with player welfare and academy structures, something the club is keen to commence building this year.

“Having dealt with Garreth numerous times during his position at GMB during the difficulties the club faced in 2018, I have a great deal of trust in him and also his skill sets.

"He also has a good knowledge and understanding of both the club and myself from that and therefore knows how professional we are, even in the most difficult circumstances, which clearly gives him the confidence to establish himself in a challenging role within a Super League club."