Christopher Thorman (born 26 September 1980) is an English
rugby league coach is head coach of
Newcastle Thunder and a former player. An
England international goal-kicking , he previously played in the Engage
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
for
Hull F.C. (
Heritage No.),
Huddersfield Giants,
London Broncos
The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England.
The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
(
Heritage No. 402) and the
Sheffield Eagles
The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...
, as well as in the
National Rugby League for the
Parramatta Eels (
Heritage No. 668).
Following the sacking of
Rick Stone as coach of the
Huddersfield Giants,
he was announced as interim head coach.
Background
Born 26 September 1980 in
Wallsend,
North Tyneside, Thorman went to Western First School, Western Middle School and then onto Burnside Community High School (now known as
Burnside Business and Enterprise College), where he was friends with former
England football international
Michael Carrick. His first rugby club was Newcastle Eagles (now known as
Wallsend Eagles) where he played with his younger brothers, Paul and Neil, as a youngster under the watchful eye of Simon Wilkinson, the club's head coach. He was discovered by a scout and sent to regional camps and other rugby league trials. Playing for
orth East U16more and more scouts discovered the potential the young man had. At 16, he made his professional début playing for the Sheffield Eagles.
Playing career
Thorman scored the fastest hat-trick of tries scored from the start of a match in 6 min 54 sec while playing for Huddersfield Giants against Doncaster Dragons in the semi-final of the Buddies National League Cup at Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on 19 May 2002.
In 2004, Thorman made a highly anticipated move to
NRL side the
Parramatta Eels. Thorman struggled with form and only made 11 appearances for the club before leaving Australia and signing with The
Huddersfield Giants
His representative honours include 1 game for Yorkshire, 1 game for England "A" and 2 games as England captain.
Thorman captained Huddersfield in the
2006 Challenge Cup
The 2006 Challenge Cup (also known as the Powergen Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Powergen) was the 105th tournament played for rugby league's Challenge Cup. It features teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France ...
Final at stand-off half back against
St. Helens but the Giants lost 12–42. In June 2007 Thorman was called up to the
Great Britain squad for the
Test match against
France however missed the match with an injury to his thigh.
Thorman signed a 1-year deal for Hull in the 2009 season but after a disappointing season for Hull he was sold to York City Knights.
Coaching career
In June 2012, Thorman announced to be joining Super League's Huddersfield Giants as an assistant coach at the end of the season.
On 3 May 2019, Thorman was appointed head coach at
Workington Town, following the departure of former boss
Leon Pryce. His move followed his resignation from his first management job at
Huddersfield Giants.
References
External links
Giants maintain winning formChallenge Cup Final 2006Floodlit-Nines Winning Captain, Chris ThormanChris Thorman Hull ProfileThorman Cleared of Biting*(archived by web.archive.org
Thorman talks about Jon Sharp's Departure from the Giants*(archived by web.archive.org
2008 Superleague Player ProfileThorman's Drop Goal Seals Victory for the Giants against Bradford BullsYorkshire Post Player Profile 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorman, Chris
1980 births
Living people
England national rugby league team players
English rugby league coaches
English rugby league players
Huddersfield Giants captains
Huddersfield Giants players
Hull F.C. players
London Broncos players
Newcastle Thunder coaches
Parramatta Eels players
Rugby league five-eighths
Rugby league fullbacks
Rugby league halfbacks
Rugby league players from Wallsend
Sheffield Eagles (1984) players
Workington Town coaches
York City Knights coaches
Yorkshire rugby league team players