Martin Gleeson comments on 12 months with Warrington Wolves

The former Wire, Huddersfield Giants, St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Hull FC, Salford Red Devils and Great Britain centre is part of a Sam Burgess coaching set-up that has put the team in contention for the big prizes this year.

They were Challenge Cup Final runners-up, are third in Super League with their play-offs place secured and in the hunt with Hull KR and Wigan for the League Leaders’ Shield.

When the Wiganer arrived to support interim head coach Gary Chambers with six games to go in the 2023 season, The Wire had slumped from their super start under Daryl Powell and were in a six-team battle to finish in the fifth or sixth play-off spots.

“It’s a lot different now. You could be in a different club,” said 44-year-old Gleeson, who is partnered by Richard Marshall as assistants to Burgess.

“When I came back here at the end of last year, it was only a part-time basis and when I got in I saw a group of lads who were really shot in confidence, heads down, and maybe not playing a way that suited them players.

“One of the first things I asked them when I came in was – and I knew the answer – what’s Warrington good at for us to get over the gain line.

“And we had nines (hookers) who can jump out of dummy half, and people who just push into holes.

“I got them to tell me what Warrington look like when they’re playing well.

“And that’s what we did for six weeks, just focused on that and kept it dead simple. And just getting some buy-in and getting the boys enjoying it, just trying to get everyone playing to their strengths really. It’s as simple as that, it’s not rocket science.

“I knew then after the six weeks a couple of areas in our game would have to be improved on for this year, both sides of the ball, and then we added some different layers – attack when in the opposition half which we didn’t really touch on last year because it would have been too messy for them, too much information.

“We’ve built on that this year, so the difference is pretty big – not just on-the-field stuff but the atmosphere around the place.

“The boys have a good connection with each other, they get on well, they love spending time away from rugby and they enjoy coming in here.

“From my point of view, what I’ve observed, we’re on a journey. We don’t know what our destination is yet but I’m sure we’re heading in the right direction.

“Everyone’s improved, everyone’s got the bit between their teeth, people are comfortable in what they’re doing, what their jobs are, what’s expected of them from the team.

“It’s probably simplified for them, everyone knows their role, we don’t throw a lot of curve balls in there, everyone’s getting their job done and we try to get the best out of each player.

“We don’t ask them to do anything that doesn’t suit them, or they can’t do, we just get each player to bring what they’ve got.”

Martin Gleeson salutes the crowd after wrapping up victory over Bradford Bulls in 2006 with a try (Image: SWpix.com)

So what is needed from here to build on the successful foundations that have been laid?

“We just want to compound everything that we’ve been building throughout the year,” he said.

“We’ve got a set of values and pillars of our game that we go after, and it’s just doing those things more consistently at a more intense level for longer periods of time in games.

“Games can go different ways and I went through a few pivotal games from the year with the group.

“You can start electric in some games, on it like Saints, then you’re down to 12 - but we’ve been there before, defending our line against Catalans and against Leeds when we were down to 12 men - so whatever gets thrown up at us in games whether we have to attack well or we’ve got to defend our line when down to 12, we’ve been through it multiple times in this season – we know what to do, we know how to get out of it, we know how to swing momentum back our way. It’s just a matter of doubling down on those kind of things.”

Is it a case for the coaching team of never being satisfied in order to keep pushing standards and performances higher?

“We haven’t achieved anything yet, so I don’t think you can ever be really satisfied,” said Gleeson.

“You also have to be careful you don’t do too much. If you do too much, you confuse players.

“Rugby league is a simple game and you have to get the primary thing right, which is you’re going to battle, you’re going to war.

“And if you’ve got too many distractions in your head, too many fancy things, you can get away from the battle and the next minute you’re thinking how did we get here in a game.

“When you go on that field it’s tough – it’s physical, it’s fast, you’re constantly shattered. The less you have to think the better!

“You’re always trying to evolve the team. But there’s a lot of decisions you make, or things you think about, and you decide I’ll leave that for a few weeks because it’s not the right time.

“It’s all about timing, making sure it’s the right thing and then when to do it. That’s the way we coach anyway.”