MATT Diskin has been tipped as a future England coach after being appointed as Batley's new boss on a three-year deal from October.

The former Leeds and Bradford hooker will continue in his current roles as Bulls assistant first-team and under-19s coach until the end of the current campaign.

He will then make the move to the part-time Bulldogs to succeed John Kear, who is returning to Wakefield at the end of the year.

As exclusively revealed in the Telegraph & Argus, Diskin was recently interviewed for the position along with Francis Cummins, Andy Hay and Craig Lingard.

The Batley board, in conjunction with Kear, opted for 34-year-old Diskin, who is highly regarded for his work with Bradford's academy.

Diskin presided over last weekend's 52-18 first-team win at Dewsbury in the absence of Jimmy Lowes and has been backed to prosper at Mount Pleasant.

Batley chairman Kevin Nicholas said: "Matt is presently in a full-time post at a big rugby league club and so for him to step down from that role and come to us, in a part-time capacity, shows a big commitment from him with the support of his wife and family.

"I asked him how long he wanted to pledge to the club in the first instance and without hesitation he said three years. We shook hands on it and so for the next three years, at least, he will be our head coach.

"That was his choice, which again shows to us that he is here to achieve things at Batley. If he can improve us in that time, then he will leave us at some point and no doubt progress to full time.

"In fact, his clear ambition is to be England coach and we want him to achieve that goal after he has shown to the rugby league world what he can achieve at Batley."

Former Bulls captain Diskin will remain at Odsal until October and said: "I was welcomed with open arms when I first arrived and Bradford feels like a home from home.

"The staff who I have met at the club will be lifelong friends and I consider some of them my closest friends.

"It is going to be sad to leave. We've worked very hard with the youth set-up over the last couple of years to get it back into a positive position.

"I am 100 per cent confident the job we've done will be a success for the next five to ten years, which was the goal when we started.

"For me to leave the group and those youth players is very tough – but the role at Batley is also the next step in my progression and development as a coach.

"I have a commitment to the group until the end of the year and my duty now is to make sure as many of the Academy lads are at the right level and ready for the first team by the end of this year."