FORMER Warrington Wolves assistant coach Andrew Henderson used the off-season to train in a new career – as a close protection officer.

The 42-year-old, who left The Halliwell Jones Stadium at the end of the season and is now head of rugby at the Keighley Cougars, now has the highest security license possible.

He has no immediate plans to move into security but hasn’t ruled out a switch of career further down the line.

Henderson completed the 21-day course in the off-season and believes much of what he learnt is transferable into his future in the world of rugby.

He said: “I had some time in the off-season and thought to myself, I’m not going away on holiday so why don’t I use this time to up-skill myself.

“It was three weeks long, quite intense, but I’ve upskilled myself personally.

“You learn how to use different equipment, deal with hostile situations, there’s theory and practical assessments throughout the course.

“I’ve got training in conflict management, and am now a qualified first aider, so I feel it was definitely worth doing.”

The Vanquish Training Academy is led by ex-Wire star Matty Blythe, who has branched into the private security sector since his retirement from rugby league in 2017.

It provides participants the chance to acquire skills such as advanced surveillance, bug sweeping, close protection training and much more.

“I got in touch with Matty to find out a little bit more about the course, what opportunities come off the back of it and he told me there was a course starting in Leeds a few days afterwards,” said former London Broncos head coach Henderson.

“As it turns out, both Jarrod Sammut and Greg Worthington were on the same course as me.”

Henderson, who worked as assistant coach to Steve Price at Warrington, fully recommended the course to other players and coaches coming to the end of their careers.

He said: “How to defuse situations and how to overcome them for example, are such transferable skills in the coaching world.

“I mean conflict management; you have to deal with players on the training ground who have issues all the time!

“If I’m ever out of work in the future, this course has given me something I can fall back on.”