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Halifax-born Finn has returned to his hometown club following brief stints as a player in the early noughties and as assistant coach to Simon Grix - who he has now replaced - in 2022.

The former back left that position to guide Dewsbury Rams to the League 1 title in 2023 before being lured back to The Shay.

Asked if it was a dream of his to end up in his current role, Finn replied:

Liam Finn is back at Fax for a third spell, this time as the head coach, and he is looking to make the town where he grew up ‘proud.’ (Photo credit: Thomas Fynn)

“It is, absolutely. I have made no secret of the fact that as a boy growing up I wanted to play for Halifax. Unfortunately, the planets only aligned for 22 games and it never came together again for me to play for the club.

“I obviously then came back as an assistant coach and that was relatively short lived as well, so I am hoping that this one is longer than the previous two.

“I grew up as a Halifax fan and I still looked for the results.Hopefully I can now influence them in a positive way and do a good job and do the town proud.”

He added: “It is going good so far. It’s a little bit of a bedding-in period and getting to know everybody again and getting reacquainted with people and speaking to the players in the squad.”

And he has already started on his squad plans for 2024, with Adam O’Brien, who was on loan at The Shay last season, and Ben Crooks putting pen to paper on deals with the club.

Incoming Halifax Panthers head coach Liam Finn triumphs at the Rugby League Awar...

Finn said: “They are both really important signings. I am very much of the belief that we need as many local Halifax lads playing for Halifax and we need to make sure that if they are available and they are going to add quality to us then we are in there for those players.

“OB is definitely one of those. He has a lot of experience at the top level and he is very professional and his subtleties around the ruck will be a massive addition to us, as well as his leadership.

“Crooksy is another one who is an experienced bloke. He has been around the game a long time and, unfortunately, picked up an injury in the last five minutes of the season but when we get him back on the field he will be a welcome boost.

“You can see the impact of what he can do in attack and getting his winger into space and just generally causing defences trouble.

“I am looking forward to working with both.”

Liam Finn: New Halifax Panthers head coach looking to influence club ‘in a positive way’ and ‘do the town proud’