Within hours of the advertisement appearing for a new coach Whitehaven had two ‘interesting’ applications for the job.

Both from outside the county, they have given the Whitehaven board food for thought as they prepare to choose a successor to James Coyle who stands own at the end of the season.

Local speculation has centred on current assistant coach Gary Broadbent along with the former Barrow coach Dave Clark, who had been in charge of the Academy Under-19’s side Cumbria Storm until it folded recently.

Director Mark Stamper said: “We received two applications from people outside the county and they provided CV’s which I would describe as interesting.

“The application only went in the rugby league press on Monday and we hope to receive a few more so that we can get round to arranging interviews.”

Coyle, who has had wretched luck with injuries throughout the season, told the board last week that he was going to stand-down after the last game because of added commitments to his business and his family.

“I think he’s been unlucky with injuries so results haven’t gone as we would have liked. But we could have had five or six more points from games which got away from us for one reason or another.

“He has the respect of all the players and his all-round knowledge of rugby league for such a young man in a coaching role is phenomenal,” said Stamper.

The director is hoping that two key players will be back in action before the end of the Super Eights, although he is not so hopeful about the chances of a third.

“Jessie Joe Parker is difficult to ready by the opposition and such an important player for us in the centre. He has torn a hamstring and that, at the very minimum will be six weeks so it’s looking unlikely that he will play again is season.

“We do hope to see Elliott Miller and Carl Forster back in action during the Super Eights. Both are going through rehab after shoulder operations and we certainly won’t be bringing them back too soon.

“For the sake of one game we would sooner wait and make sure they are ready to resume, as both will be big players for us,” said Stamper.