ALREADY, Sam Burgess is starting to put his stamp on the Warrington Wolves team and the club in general.
Even though his tenure as head coach will not start officially for a few months, interim boss Gary Chambers says the England legend has been in constant contact with things he wants to see before then.
Burgess was confirmed as The Wire’s next head coach on a two-year deal on Monday, bringing the club’s hunt for a successor to Daryl Powell to an end.
He will remainder in his role as assistant coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs – the club with whom he enjoyed a sparkling playing career in the NRL – until the end of this year while Chambers and Richard Marshall continue to hold the fort at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.
“I’ve spoken to him on a number of occasions now and it’s been full-on – my phone’s been ringing at 2am with him telling me things he’s seen or ideas he’s had,” Chambers said in an exclusive interview with the Warrington Guardian.
“I don’t know what he’s doing at Souths because we’re talking every day.
“He wants all of the training videos, all of the match videos, individualised profiles, succession plans in terms of the youth coming through.
“We’ll start discussing players that fit the bill in terms of what he wants at this club – that will start happening soon.
“We’ve discussed how I see us playing and how we feel we can get the best out of this group, and he’s dropping in little bits of things he wants us to try and what he wants to see.
“Things like celebrating success and looking after each other when we make mistakes – he’s adamant that he wants to see these things. He’s set some real standards for us to follow.”
Chambers has prior experience with the incoming head coach from his time coaching the England academy side when Burgess was a youngster coming through.
As such, he gave an insight into the kind of person Wire have appointed to lead them for at least the new two full seasons.
“He’s a winner – he went over to Australia as a kid and became the best in the world, which takes some doing,” he said.
“He’s all about good people and good values and he wants to build a team in that way.
“Also, he’s invested in the traditions of this town and that was a big thing. He understands it’s a hard-working town and he wants to play a brand of rugby that represents what that’s all about.
“That means getting players in to fulfil what he wants to do.
“He’s an impressive individual and someone I think will be long remembered in this town.
“He’s a real student of the game and goes into incredible detail when he’s talking about attack and defence.
“It’s good to listen to – he knows exactly how we should be playing because we have a certain way of playing at Warrington.
“We’re successful when we play flat and fast and push around the ball. That’s what we’re trying to produce in these last few games and he will expand on that.
“He knows where he wants it to be already – he’s already planning pre-season and camps and things like that. He’s on it and fully invested.”
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