James Lowes is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He played for

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, but arguably his best years were spent with the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

, where he won many trophies. He played there from 1996 to 2003.

Club career

Lowes began his career at

, moving to

in 1992, before joining Bradford for the inaugural

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 ...

season. Lowes was the 1997 Bradford Bulls season's top

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

scorer, and won the

Man of Steel Award A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

as the Bradford Bulls claimed their first Super League championship. In the 1997 post-season Lowes was selected to play for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at hooker in all three matches against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

Super League Test series Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

, scoring a try in the opening game. Lowes played for

at in the

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...

which was lost to St. Helens. Lowes played for the

at , and scored a

in their 2001 Super League Grand Final victory against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. As Super League VI champions, the Bradford Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the 2002 World Club Challenge. Lowes played at hooker in Bradford's victory. Lowes played for

at in their 2002 Super League Grand Final loss against St. Helens. Lowes played for the

at hooker and scored a

in their 2003 Super League Grand Final victory against the

, which was his last match before retirement. Lowes' legacy was acknowledged when he was included in Bradford's 'Millennium Masters', 'Bull Masters', and in August 2007 was named in the club's 'Team of the Century'. Only six players have been included in all three lists; Lowes, Karl Fairbank,

Trevor Foster Trevor John French Foster MBE (3 December 1914 – 2 April 2005) was a Welsh rugby footballer, and coach. He played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Bradford Northern. Trevor Foster was a Sergeant Physical Training Instructor in t ...

Keith Mumby Keith Mumby (born 21 February 1957), also known by the nickname of "Sir Keith", is an English former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, who most famously played for Bradford Northern between 1973 and 1993, and Sh ...

Robbie Paul Robert Rawiri Hunter-Paul (born 3 February 1976) is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer. He has since become a business owner and television pundit, runninXtra Mile Marketing an inbound and digital marketing company. Robbie retired fr ...

and

Ernest Ward Ernest Ward (30 July 1920 – 9 July 1987) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, British Empire, Combined Nationalities and Eng ...

Coaching career

Lowes began a coaching career following his retirement as a player, joining

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

as an assistant coach in 2004. Whilst on the coaching staff at Salford he made one appearance in a friendly match against Swinton, scoring a try. Lowes later moved to

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

as an assistant coach, and was named head coach following the departure of Paul Cullen in the 2008 season. However, after a disappointing opening to the 2009 season Lowes left the club and was replaced by Tony Smith. He later joined Leeds Rhinos as an assistant to Brian McDermott. In 2013 Lowes was named as head coach at

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University. These include: Current * Leeds Carnegie Handball Club Changed name * Leeds Carnegie ...

. In June 2014 Lowes was named as head coach at

. After the disappointment and shock of being relegated out of

Super League XIX The 2014 Super League season (known as the First Utility Super League XIX due to sponsorship by First Utility) was the 19th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the Le ...

after being one of the most successful Super League teams among the years, Lowes made his team one game away from returning to the Super League in 2016. They only required to now win a 'Million Pound Game' and final qualifier which determined if either Wakefield would remain in the Super League again next season or whether Bradford would return to the top flight again. However Bradford would suffer a 24-16 defeat which would cause Lowes' men to unfortunately remain in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

for the 2016 rugby league season. Lowes after the match caused a stir, after he took the match seriously and was tempted to quit rugby league. In August 2015, Lowes became McNamara's new assistant as he took up the assistant coach role of the England national team.

References

External links

James Lowes at warringtonwolves.org
*(archived by web.archive.org
The Millennium Masters - Forwards
*(archived by web.archive.org
Bull Masters - James Lowes
*(archived by web.archive.org
Team Of The CenturyJames Lowes named Head Coach
*(archived by web.archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowes, James 1969 births Living people Bradford Bulls coaches Bradford Bulls players English people of Irish descent English rugby league coaches English rugby league players English rugby union coaches Great Britain national rugby league team players Hunslet R.L.F.C. players Ireland national rugby league team players Leeds Tykes coaches Leeds Rhinos coaches Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league hookers Warrington Wolves coaches Yorkshire rugby league team players