FORMER rugby league international Grant Anderson is to join forces with Lee Crooks on the York Wasps coaching team.

Anderson, who worked alongside Crooks at Keighley, will officially take up his new post next month.

However Crooks' search for a second assistant is continuing after Garry Atkins, caretaker coach last season, turned down the chance to stay at Huntington Stadium.

Anderson, 31, played with Crooks and Atkins in the Castleford team which won the Yorkshire Cup in the 1990-91 season.

A centre or stand-off, he spent most of his career at Castleford after coming up through the Academy ranks at Wheldon Road.

He earned four Great Britain Under-21 caps in 1989 and 1990 and played with Crooks at Wembley in the 1992 Challenge Cup final defeat by Wigan.

After a two-year stint at Halifax, he returned to Castleford in 1996 before moving onto Hunslet then Keighley two years later.

His playing career ended when doctors advised him to quit after he sustained a serious eye injury.

Atkins' decision not to join up with Crooks was something of a surprise after he had intimated that he was keen to stay on board.

But he rejected the offer due to the amount of time involved in travelling from his Harrogate home where he also has a full-time job.

"I'd be travelling five times a week and putting in five or six hours a day," said Atkins, who is now considering a switch to rugby union with Harrogate where he would link up with York centre Simon Irving.

However, he has not ruled out a return to Huntington Stadium in the future and Crooks said the position was still available if he changed his mind.

The Wasps boss added: "I was a bit disappointed because I think Garry could have played a part in helping to take the club back up but credit to him, he's done a good job here."

Another man on his way out is Academy coach and conditioner Dean Thomas who has followed prop Steve Hill to Sheffield Eagles.

There was no place for Thomas in Crooks' new regime, so he has opted to join the South Yorkshiremen as their conditioner.

He also hopes to be given a coaching role when the Eagles set-up an Alliance and Academy team in future years.

PICTURE:ON BOARD: Grant Anderson will join Wasps coaching staff