Interview | Community Development Officer Jordan Platt joins Dons in ‘fantastic opportunity’

Community Development Officer Jordan Platt wasn't able to ignore the 'fantastic opportunity' with The Dons.

Jordan Platt has revealed exciting plans following his appointment as Community Development Officer with the Dons.

The new arrival began his career in Rugby League with Wakefield Trinity, before moving to Leeds Rhinos, where he worked as their Rugby League Development Officer and Primary Rugby Specialist.

Following his switch to the Dons, Platt said: “I’m settling in great. I met Carl (Hall), Carl’s really passionate about the game and developing Doncaster. 

“I really feel I can bring my experience to help that and try to push us forward and try to get us to that next step which is Super League.

“It was great to see what Andy (Castle) has done previously, he’s put some really good foundations at the club. Looking forward, there’s a great opportunity for us to get more visibility in schools, there’s opportunity to make better links with colleges, and also build foundations with the women’s team and LDRL (Learning Disability Rugby League) and PDRL (Physical Disability Rugby League), just to give us a bit more of a better vision and more exposure as a club.”

Platt has plenty of experience in developing the link between schools and the community to the clubs themselves, helping to offer aspiring youngsters more opportunities to play rugby, thus bringing in more talent at a professional level.

When asked about his plans after joining the club, he said: “First thing is first - we need to work on the schools programme. I see it as a major opportunity, we’ve not delivered enough schools, so we’re going to be looking at going into primary schools, we’re going to be offering free taster sessions to get into those schools and from those free taster sessions, we want to try to get as many children as we can to go into the community club, to then boost our community club numbers. 

“This way, we’ll have more supporters for the game, we’ll be boosting our visibility as a club, and hopefully then pushing that forward by having more players for the game, to have a better talent pathway, to then create more future of Dons players moving forward.

“This is a fantastic opportunity with the support of Carl that I’ve already got, which is great. I can only see this club moving forward.”