Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess has discussed the coaching dynamic between himself and new assistant Steve McNamara, whilst also emphasising the club’s ‘back to basics’ approach this pre-season.
That approach was something that Burgess had echoed at the end of the 2025 season as Wire saw their play-off hopes dwindle with a poor run of form to end the year.
Speaking at the club’s media day, the Warrington Wolves boss has confirmed that approach remains the same and he spoke to BBC Radio Merseyside to explain exactly what the mantra meant.
Burgess explained: “We’ve always covered quite a bit of ground but it’s exactly what it says on the tin, we’ve stripped it right back and we’ve gone back to things that we hope will make us more of a consistent unit.
“It’s exactly what it says, there are no secrets, we’re going right back to catch, pass, carry harder, tackle tech a little bit better and get our foundations stronger.”
What Warrington Wolves’ coaching dynamic has looked like in pre-season
One man who will aid massively in building a strong foundation is new assistant coach Steve McNamara with the former England boss arriving after a brief spell out of the game following his sacking from Catalans.
McNamara’s appointment surprised many but it’s an appointment that makes more sense the more you look at it when you consider the discrepancy in experience between the Burgess and his new assistant, a point that the head coach made.
Burgess explained: “Steve and I go a long way back, rather than just the last three months, so we’ve got a relationship that goes back to when I was about 15 or 16. It’s a long time to know someone and he’s a very experienced coach… a wealth of experience that I don’t have.
“There’s a couple of blind spots from year one to two (for me) and I reckon we’ve just skipped about seven or eight years of those (blind spots) with Steve, so it’s been good.”
Expanding further, he added: “Steve has been great, he’s brought in a lot of organisation and experience which has been great for the group. It’s allowed us to be a bit more consistent so it’s been good.
“We’ve had a good bunch of young players in from day one and we look forward to seeing how we go when some games come around.”
It’s now time to see that in action though with Warrington set for a final pre-season clash with Leigh Leopards before they start their Challenge Cup and Super League campaigns.
To that point, Burgess noted: “It doesn’t count for too much though really as we’ve got some work to do and some performances to get on the field now.”
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