AMBITIOUS Oxford Cavaliers want former Great Britain rugby league forward Lee Crooks to be their player-coach.

The go-ahead Southern Conference club have made an offer to the 34-year-old ex-Hull, Leeds and Castleford player and they are now awaiting his reply.

Lionel Hurst, the Rugby League Conference chairman who is connected with Cavaliers, said: "We realise he is going to be in big demand, but we would like to see him in a player-coaching role.

"We have a very good coaching staff lined up, but you can never have too many good people.

"We are very optimistic about everything and we are very flexible as well and if Lee had suggestions to join on a temporary basis or whatever then we would consider all those aspects.

"He would be a welcome asset to anything we would like to do in the city."

But it looks like Oxford's audacious move to snap up one of rugby league's best known players may be scuppered.

Crooks, who retired from playing in July following a series of knee injuries and has since been coaching the Castleford Academy side until a reorganisation at the club left him without a job, isn't keen to start playing again and is looking for a full-time coaching post. He said: "At the moment I am just sort of thinking it over.

"But they have actually got coaching people in place which I would have liked to do - like the head coach - which was an area I would have been interested in.

"What they have to offer sounds very interesting, but it is a long way to go down and do one session a week.

"At this present time I want to see what else crops up in the next couple of weeks and get back to them."

Crooks, who played 19 times for Great Britain and commanded what was then a record transfer fee of £150,000 back in 1987 when Leeds signed him from Hull, added that he didn't want to make a playing comeback.

"I said that is something I don't particularly want to do," he explained. "But I am not adverse to having a game. The problem I have with my knee is that it is a worsening condition. I actually have a degenerating knee and it is just crumbling."

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