Malta appoint Attard as Head Coach
The Malta Rugby League (MRL) has announced former professional player Roderick Attard as its Head Coach for the European Championship D tournament later this autumn.
Kalkara born and raised Attard played locally for a host of rugby league clubs before and after a professional stint in England with Championship 1 club Gateshead Thunder in 2010.
Since an ad hoc retirement in 2019, Attard has focused on his Functional Fitness gym at Ħamrun, The Pit, and brings a wealth of experience to the Malta fold. The Pit also fielded a team in the MRL Championship for a couple of seasons.
Attard commented at the announcement that he plans to surround himself with a solid management and coaching staff ahead of scouting local players and the best eligible players from overseas leagues such as the European Super League.
Attard added, "It's a great honour for me to be offered this position within the MRL. I want to share everything I've learnt throughout the years. There’s great talent in our local players and the overseas players that are eligible to join our national team are doing extremely well. I'm looking forward to blending them together to produce a super powerful team".
Attard added that we could see the fittest Maltese rugby team in some time, "Fitness, simplicity, efficiency and teamwork are going to be our key factors. I'm a team player myself and I cannot imagine going through this journey without the people I intend to invite to join me in managing this team".
"One thing that I can surely commit myself to say to the players that are asked to join the team is that apart from the honour of representing Malta, they can be assured that through the build up they are going to be the fittest version of themselves both mentally and physically. It's going to be an exciting Rugby and Fitness journey".
The national team head coaching appointment isn’t the first for the 36-year-old, Roderick coached the Malta Olympic Rowing team in 2015 to its first ever Olympic Rowing medal in Piediluco, Italy.
A veteran of both the Maltese rugby circuit and especially the Maltese national rugby league team, Attard returns to the rugby league scene after coaching and assisting Malta’s national champions at the 2019 Crossfit Games.
MRL General Manager David Axisa said Attard’s pride in the appointment was a large basis for the appointment which the MRL expects to drive the national team towards winning this year’s Euro D group.
"Rod instilled an enormous sense of pride in the Knights jumper as a player, and will create an equally strong set of values into the national team fabric as head coach. I want to thank him, not simply for accepting the position but for genuinely wanting it".
"Our goal is obviously to top the European Championship D this time around and progress further into the qualifiers. In Roderick Attard, we have the person we believe can make that happen".
