LEE Briers is following in the footsteps of Warrington Wolves’ first team and is heading to Australia on a coaching expedition.

Wolves’ under 19s Academy head coach will spend three weeks in Australia, visiting several NRL clubs to gain an insight into their coaching philosophies and bring ideas back with him to apply within the academy set-up here at Warrington.

“I’m going to be looking at coaching techniques, the way teams are run and hopefully bring something back to help me with my coaching,” he said.

“I’ll be spending a week with Manly in the lead up to the Melbourne game in the first week, then travelling up to Newcastle to spend a week with the world-famous Wayne Bennett; one of the best coaches who has ever lived, which will be an invaluable experience.

“They play Canberra at the end of that week so I will get a feel of how they prepare for games and their recovery too.

“In the third week I go back down to Parramatta for a week to see how they do their build-up to the Manly game.

“I’m really looking forward to it.

“It’s something I always planned to do when I eventually retired; I wanted to go to Australia to look at how they do it, to hopefully learn something to bring back with me.

“It will be an invaluable experience for me and I thank the club for the opportunity.

“It’s been about five years in my planning and now it is eventually here.

“It’s going to be a busy three weeks and I’m going to get as much as I can out of it.”

Since announcing his retirement, Briers has been passing on his experience to his under 19s players, a lot of whom have impressed the legendary playmaker.

“They’ve been great; every one of them,” he said.

“Their attitude has been great - which we knew it would be - they apply themselves in training and take on board our ideas.

“Danny Fullerton has been leading them well.

“I’m getting into it now too; 12-hour days are something different when you are used to training for just three or four. I love the coaching side of it.”

“There’s a few players who will be pushing on the door this year and definitely next year; you can see that already.

“As long as we can lead them in the right direction hopefully they’ll go a long way.

“There’s a pathway for them and Tony is always keen to give the youngsters a go if they are good enough and there are plenty good enough.”