Nathan Brown elects to stay at Huddersfield and reject Australia return

For the second year running the highly rated Huddersfield coach, Nathan Brown, has eschewed a return to Australia and decided to stay with the Giants instead. "Happy wife, happy life," said Brown, who arrived in Yorkshire ahead of the 2008 season after an unhappy end to his first coaching job with St George Illawarra Dragons. He had been expected to leave at the end of last season, with 12 months remaining on his three-year contract, largely because his wife and three daughters were pining for Sydney. But that homesickness passed and after the birth of his first son last month, and with no guarantee of a job back in Australia, Brown has extended his agreement with the Giants until the end of 2012. "I always said I would wait until our new baby was born to make a decision but the wife and the kids are really happy here and so it was easy decision to make really," said the 37-year-old. "If you have got a club that wants you especially if it is doing reasonably well you can feel pretty privileged. We seem to be improving each year and we would like to keep doing that – the club is definitely on the rise." Huddersfield's managing director, Richard Thewlis, described Brown's decision as "a wonderful fillip for us all as we enter the second half of the season sitting second in Super League and still in the Challenge Cup". Their quarter‑final at Castleford will be played on Sunday 24 July when the BBC will televise the Hull v Leeds tie, having shown Wigan's derby at the holders Warrington the previous day. The remaining tie, between St Helens and Hull KR, will also be played on the Sunday. The only potential problem for the Giants is how Brown's assistant, Paul Anderson, will take the news. The former Bradford and St Helens prop had been expected to take over next season but will now have to wait at least another year. Brown's decision reduces the number of Super League clubs still without a coach contracted for next season to three. Wigan are expected to promote their current assistant Shaun Wane to take over when Michael Maguire leaves for South Sydney at the end of the season, and Salford's chairman, John Wilkinson, is currently in Australia interviewing a number of candidates for the vacancy at the Willows including Peter Gentle, a little-known assistant at Wests Tigers. Terry Matterson is expected to leave Castleford and return to Australia at the end of his contract, although neither he nor the Tigers have yet confirmed that.