Whitehaven RLFC head coach Gary Charlton had his last march in charge of the club at the weekend.

Haven lost 24-20 to Halifax Panthers in the Championship playoff on Saturday.

This marked the end of strong season, where Haven defied expectations to finish sixth in the league.

'Charlo' will take on a new role at the club as director of rugby.

This will see him involved in the recruitment of players.

Mr Charlton said he is looking forward to having a more relaxing time.

He said: "I’ve got other things to look forward to in my life now.

"I’m hoping to go on a few more holidays now, especially in the summer time.

"I'll get a good night’s sleep instead of waking up in the middle of the night wondering ‘Why did we do that? Why didn’t things go this way? Why didn’t I get that decision?’

"You never switch off [as a coach]. You’ve got to think two or three things ahead for everything."

Mr Charlton took up the reins at Whitehaven in 2018 and won the League 1 title in 2019.

He was named the division's coach of the year in the process.

His assistant, Jonty Gorley, has been named as head coach for next season.

Mr Charlton said: "I’m proud of the club, the players, and everybody that’s associated with the club.

"This club is in good hands.

"We’ve got a great coach who’ll take the club forward as well in Jonty Gorley. We’ve got some good players and we’ve retained quite a lot of them."

Despite being relegation favourites at the start of the season, Mr Charlton was disappointed with the playoff defeat at the weekend.

"You’re always disappointed to lose. If you’re not disappointed to lose you shouldn’t be playing rugby league or any type of sport.

"Take nothing away from our season, I think we’ve had a great season.

"We’ve come up a little bit short in one game. We made errors in that game that we probably haven’t done in the last six or seven weeks when we were on a good run."

With local rivals Workington Town RLFC in the League 1 playoff final, Mr Charlton wished his old club luck.

"We want all Cumbrian teams to be playing at as high a level as possible.

"The derby games are great games for players, for coaches, for fans to be involved in."