'I'm ready to be the main man': Why Jake Brady swapped Leeds Tykes for Harrogate RUFC

Brady will become the full-time director of rugby at Harrogate at the end of June, after six years as a player at Leeds and four years as the club’s general manager.

In that role he was responsible for rebuilding the former Premiership club from an operations and commercial standpoint.

Having helped them regain their footing in that respect before playing a big part on the pitch in two promotion challenges - the latter of which resulted in elevation to National One this past season - he is ready to spread his wings.

Harrogate - one of his former clubs along with Doncaster and Pontefract - have offered the perfect fit for the 36-year-old forward.

“As soon as we got the job of promotion done at Leeds, I thought what’s the next challenge,” said Brady.

“This role is the right one for me with where I’m at in my career, it will be a chance to learn and grow.

“I’ll be running the rugby department, choosing the coaching team, signing the players and everything like that.

“Although I’ve done a lot of the other stuff and had a big input into that at Leeds, the final say has not been mine and the responsibility has not been mine, so I want to give that element of it a go.”

Harrogate has in excess of 350 members with a thriving junior and minis section, as well as a women’s team. Brady will get stuck into all of that, but helping the first team bounce back from an agonising relegation from National Two North two months ago is the priority.

“I don’t want to just focus on immediate promotion and be just trying to survive,” he said.

“I want to think long-term: how do we build a team for the long-term, not just a quick fix of trying to get promoted.

“It’s about how that progression grows into the year after; if we can get back into National Two, how do we stay up?

“They’ve got the foundations of a good team. The players have all said they want to stay for next year so it shows they’re a good group and pretty tight.

“And it shows the ambition of Harrogate as a whole, because it’s been a while since they had a full-time director of rugby.

“That was a good sign for me, because to do it properly you need to give someone the right time and the right space to get the job done. It’s tough to do as a part-time gig.”

Brady goes with the full support of Leeds, who praised him for his “exceptional leadership on and off the field”.

Warwick Andrews, who has worked with Leeds Knights ice hockey club and has been involved with the Tykes in recent month, and will take on the leadership of the club’s off-field operations.

Leeds Tykes chair Alastair Da Costa said: “We’re incredibly grateful for everything Jake has brought to the club over the last five years. He has been a leader in every sense—on the pitch, in the dressing room, and off the pitch.

"Though we’re sad to see him go, he leaves with our full support and best wishes for the future. Jake will always be a part of the Tykes family and is welcome back anytime.”