YORK Knights legend Graham Steadman has linked up with James Ford at Featherstone Rovers ahead of the 2024 Betfred Championship season.

The 62-year-old will assist the former Knights head coach at the 2023 League Leaders’ Shield winners on a short-term consultancy basis during pre-season.

Ford, who departed the Knights to become Wakefield Trinity’s assistant coach last October, first joined Featherstone in a newly-created Director of Rugby role before taking over the top job following Sean Long’s shock sacking in August.

And he will now be joined by Steadman as he negotiates his first pre-season at the Millennium Stadium following a mass exodus that saw a staggering 17 players depart after their failed promotion bid.

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Plying his trade as either a half-back or full-back, Steadman is perhaps best remembered as being a player who could turn a game on its head.

He signed for York in 1982, where he scored 66 tries, 252 goals and 13 goals in 95 games before going on to join Featherstone, and then Castleford Tigers in a world record £170,000 deal in 1989.

Whilst in North Yorkshire, the ex-England international was a part of the side that reached a historic Betfred Challenge Cup Semi Final in 1984, and also holds the club's record for the most points scored in a season.

As such, he was among five former players inducted into the Knights’ Hall of Fame in 2014.

Featherstone announced Steadman’s return via X (formerly Twitter), saying: “We’re delighted to welcome Graham Steadman back to the club. 

“The former GB international and international Rugby Union coach joins the coaching team in a short-term consultancy role.”