One of nine players to depart the Melbourne Storm at the end of the 2024 season, Chris Lewis has landed an assistant coaching gig with a rival team for next season.
Although he didn't feature in either of the club's Grand Final matches in 2020 or 2024, Lewis has been a key piece of the forward pack over the past five seasons before confirming his retirement from his playing career.
Debuting at 28, he played local football with the Shellharbour Sharks, Thirroul Butchers and Helensburgh Tigers, as well as the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the QLD Cup between 2017-19 before making his NRL debut.
It has now been confirmed that Lewis will become the new NSW Cup coach of the Raiders NSW Cup team with Brock Shepperd transitioning into an assistant coaching role alongside Mick Crawley and Justin Giteau under Ricky Stuart.
โI only finished playing a couple of months ago, but I'm really enjoying the change into coaching,โ Lewis said.
โI feel like I have the ability to still understand what it's like from a players perspective, and I can share some of my knowledge and help bring some young players along.
โI've spent time playing in both reserve grade and first grade so I've had a taste of it both ways and I can share that experience with the young players.โ
The move to the Raiders comes after he played 45 matches with the Melbourne Storm between 2020 and 2024.
โRicky reached out to me, and we had a conversation about what my plans were, and we had a chat about coaching and footy in general,โ Lewis added.
โWe then had another conversation again soon after where he told me about the role and what he was looking for. Then I came down to Canberra to have a look at the facility and we went from there.โ
