Wigan Warriors hooker Sam Powell is about to celebrate his testimonial with a clash against Salford Red Devils in pre-season on February 5th.
Powell is a product of the Wigan academy, which is of course one of the best in the league.
Whilst talking up the current members of the academy to Sky Sports, which includes the likes of former St Helens and Huddersfield Giants star Keith Mason’s son Lukas, Powell revealed that he would like to go into coaching at the end of his playing.
“The players in our academy want to get better and want to improve,” Powell told Sky Sports.
“It’s great to see them coming in as boys, and as they progress to the reserves and the first team, they leave as men.
“The change you see in them is massive and I want to coach when I’m done playing. I’m doing that one night a week, maybe up it to two next year, and hopefully it will make that transition when I retire a bit smoother.
“If I look back now on my academy days, although it has gone really, really quick to where I am now, it was probably my most enjoyable days. There was pressure, but not like there is now – and you play with your mates as well so it’s really good.”
For now though Powell will be focused on that testimonial against potential top four rivals Salford and returning to the Grand Final for the first time since 2020.
