After hearing Sam Tomkins I'm quite hopeful that Tommy will ease into the coaching setup without any major issues at all.
He seems to be very knowledgeable about the game and over his career has played for great coaches and has played with some really top class players.
I've got a feeling that he may become our "secret weapon" this year.Will be interesting to see how Smith develops and if Powell changes his style of play.

Be interesting to see if Gleeson ends up back in RL. He was very well thought of at Salford (who played some great rugby at the time) and that rep got him his gig in RU. Now he's not part of the England RU set-up, there's a potentially very good backs coach available.

I think he did some work with us last year. He would be a good addition for anyone. A shame we can’t get him in. Salfords attack looked great at the time he was there and he was an amazing player.

I’m looking forward to see what Duffy has to offer both in the reserves and 1st team has a lot of experience.

That isn't necessarily how it works though.

If you applied similar logic, Matty Peet only ever played at St Pats and has ended up coach of Wigan...

One addition on the staff I’ve not seen confirmed is Chris Barron (I think that’s his name and aka Bubble). He works with England and was at Wire. I noticed him in some of the pre season photos. That’s an interesting appointment after Briers going. Now I’m not saying Briers was just the club comedian/quiz master but I thought as much as we felt his coaching knowledge last year, we also benefitted from his personality and I think he really helped the team spirit.

The reason I make that point is that I’ve seen plenty of England training clips or behind the scenes stuff from Tours and Series here and Chris Barron seems to also bring that energy and the players seem to love him. He could really help soften the blow of Briers leaving in terms of keeping that team spirit going and making sure the place is an enjoyable environment.

Good spot - surprised we've brought in a new head of strength and conditioning without the club publicising it. Could be an important move if he does well - I'm sure many will remember the boost Mark Bitcon gave us in that area.

Fingers crossed. There are a couple of lads like Mago and KPP that you’d be interested to see what he can do with. I’d love to see KPP go in to the season with an extra stone or two on him, especially now he should be starting in the forwards (all being well).

Well there was a big gap between Peet taking over and playing. Peet has also has been earning his stripes over the years. It must be a massive change to get use to not being able to be on the field and influence a game.

Well there was a big gap between Peet taking over and playing. Peet has also has been earning his stripes over the years. It must be a massive change to get use to not being able to be on the field and influence a game.

On his Linkedin profile he started with us in December.
Not sure why it hasn't been announced.

He came from Warrington didn't he? They hardly stood out as being physically dominant and blowing teams away in the last quarter last year. May have been Powell's 'magic' touch though. We'll have to wait and see on this one

Tough to say if fitness was an issue at Wire. I think you may be right in terms of the blame laying at Powell’s door. When a team struggles, fans look for reasons all over the place and everyone gets heat, so I’m sure fingers will have been pointed by some fans. We had much the same under Lam, with people saying we were fit enough yet we looked fine last year under the same S and C guys.

A lack of energy late in games can just come from a lack of effort and momentum as much as anything. It’s amazing how much harder people can work and how much fitter they look when they’re motivated and happy. Any football fans on here could look at Marcus Rashford for an example of that. Walking football to playing in fast forward and that isn’t just conditioning IMO. .

As a Utd fan I don't think it is as simplistic as that. Yes being happy will no doubt influence his effort levels but it was widely reported that under OGS he was playing with a shoulder and an ankle injury and played on for far too long before finally having the operations he needed.

That was the biggest factor for me

Without going too far off topic, I think Some injuries were an issue for him and he lost confidence but his effort and energy levels were appalling last season. He looks stronger this season for sure but I don’t think this upturn is solely him feeling better physically. He has a manager pushing him and getting the best out of him and I think he’d have improved him in exactly the condition he was in last year as well (although granted maybe not to this degree).

The original point I made was basically that Wire being awful last season and not looking particularly energetic late in games doesn’t necessarily mean the head of S&C was poor at his job. It’s like George Williams looking lost for most of the season with Wire but he was then outstanding in the World Cup. When everything is going wrong at a club the majority of people feel the heat at some point but there was still some top class players and staff at Wire last year, so I’m not worrying too much about us taking a guy out of that club (a few guys including the couple of players we’ve signed recently).

Just a reminder, Whitehaven v Wigan game today is being shown live on Wigan t.v. Kick off 3 p.m. https://tv.wiganwarriors.com/

Just a reminder, Whitehaven v Wigan game today is being shown live on Wigan t.v. Kick off 3 p.m. https://tv.wiganwarriors.com/