Richard Marshall on improving Warrington Wolves defence

Having stepped up to the first-team staff following a highly successful season coaching the club’s academy, the Warrington-born coach has spoken about his desire to “make defence sexy” at the club.

With pre-season getting underway this week, Daryl Powell has moved to promote Marshall to his staff, where he will work as an assistant coach alongside Ryan Sheridan.

He filled a similar role at St Helens for 18 months between 2019 and 2021, helping them to two Super League titles before spending one season in his first top-flight head coaching role at Salford Red Devils.

Richard Marshall spent 2021 as head coach of Salford Red Devils (Image: SWPix.com)

Now, the former Culcheth High School pupil is tasked with improving a side of The Wire’s game that was a major cause for concern during 2022 but he believes they have the personnel to turn that around.

“I want teams to come to the Halliwell Jones and know they’ve been in a game,” he told the Guardian.

“There’s a quote on the wall from Paul Cullen saying “if you’re coming here to do something, you’ll have to pay the price” and that’s the mantra I like.

“Every team in Super League will say they want a tough and resilient defence but saying it and doing it are very different things. It’s my job to act on it and work on it every single week.

“Ultimately, I want to improve us defensively and I think we have the players to do that. I saw them do it at times last year but it wasn’t sustained.

“If we want to defend the way I want us to, we’re going to have to be one of the fittest teams in the competition, if not the fittest. The two go hand in hand.

“We’ve got some good defenders here and I want them to showcase that.

“I want to make defence sexy – we talk about skills but defence is an undervalued skill and we want to turn that the opposite way.”

After leaving Salford, the academy role at his hometown club afforded Marshall the chance to step out of the limelight somewhat.

Working alongside head of youth Gary Chambers and academy assistant Tyrone McCarthy, he helped the under 18s to a third-place finish in an impressive 2022.

Marshall, right, worked alongside head of youth Gary Chambers (left) during 2022 (Image: Bob Brough)

Star players from the academy side such as Leon Hayes, Adam Holroyd and Josh Lynch all made first-team debuts as a result and have stepped up to the senior side full time.

As such, Marshall admits leaving that work behind was somewhat of a wrench.

“It was a difficult decision,” he said.

“With Gary Chambers, Tyrone McCarthy and everyone else involved in the youth set-up, we’ve had a great year not just on the pitch but in the community.

“The community clubs are engaged and we’re over-subscribed in terms of players who want to come and play for us.

“After coaching at Salford, I thought I wanted a bit of time away from the high-performance environment and first-team coaching, but I want to help out and develop further as a coach.

“Working with Daryl, Ryan and the rest of the coaches here, I think I will do.

“I’m still around those young guys and I’ll carry on going in on a Wednesday evening and helping out.”

From coaching players at the very start of their career, Marshall will now be guiding experienced and established top-level stars and some players who have reached the very top of the game.

With that in mind, does he see himself having to change his coaching style?

“I pride myself on attention to detail,” he said.

“My remit when I came back to coach the academy was to coach the players as if they were Super League players.

“There’s a little bit more pressure but you haven’t got the time restraints of a part-time, evening training session. There’s plenty of time to do things and it’s broader for longer.

“There’s high-class international players here and I want to learn from them, similar to when I was at Saints.

“You can learn from the best players and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Danny Evans, who coached the reserve team in 2022, is expected to take Marshall's place as academy head coach.