RICHARD Marshall insists his return to Warrington Wolves as academy head coach is not a step back in his career.

Having been a Super League head coach with Salford Red Devils last year and an assistant at St Helens before that, Marshall has gained experience aplenty since his first spell with The Wire ended in 2014.

During his previous time with his hometown club, Marshall led the Wire youngsters to under 20s Grand Final victory in 2012 as well as being a first-team assistant coach under Tony Smith.

While he may have come full circle in returning, however, he insists the decision to do so was a straightforward one as he aims to build on the work done by his predecessor Paul Anderson and head of youth Pete Riding, who have both now left the club.

“I don’t think it’s a step back for me. I think there’s a big job on here,” he said.

“It was an easy decision, to be honest. The club’s in a really good place with some new members of staff and the changes that have happened.

“I’m looking forward to contributing to the development of our own players.

“Paul and Pete have done a really good job with the youth side of things so far and we saw a bit of a product of that last year with the guys coming through.

“There’s lots of good reasons for me to be here and I’m looking forward to getting going.”

Before joining St Helens and then Salford, Marshall’s initial role upon leaving The Halliwell Jones Stadium was as head coach of Championship side Halifax.

He enjoyed a superb spell at The Shay, leading them to the Qualifiers in 2017.

He has become used to coaching players in the prime of their careers but insists he will not be changing his style as he readjusts to developing academy products.

“From the outset when I spoke to the club, I told them I would treat the academy lads as if they were first-team Super League players,” he said.

“I won’t be condensing my coaching style or philosophy down – if anything, I’ll be doing the opposite.

“I’ve gained a lot of experience coaching in Super League and the Championship, so I’ll be implementing structures that I know work.

“I feel I’ve got enough experience to enable some really good growth and development here.”

As is normal during pre-season, several young prospects have been invited to train with the Wire first team as established stars returned to training in phases.

With Covid impacting numbers available at times this time around, their presence has been all the more useful.

When they return to the academy side, Marshall wants them to lead their peers and use the benefit of their experiences of rubbing shoulders with the senior players.

“Daryl’s identified several players he wanted training with the first team, which is good,” he said.

“It happens over pre-season, especially with Covid impacting numbers, but they’re not there by default. They are there because they earned that opportunity.

“They obviously realise that the majority of their rugby is going to be with me and with the reserve grade, but they’ve got the be the best players in those teams.

“The ones that have been training with the first team have got to come back down with a really good attitude. They will be seen as leaders in our group.”

In 2022, Marshall’s quest to develop first-team ready players is set to be aided by the return of reserve grade rugby league.

The final decision on whether or not plans for a 13-team competition to run alongside academy fixtures will be taken at the end of the month, with games due to start on February 19.

Marshall is one of reserve grade’s biggest advocates – during his time as Halifax head coach, they were the only non-Super League club to operate a second string – and its return is seen as a big help.

With young players playing very few games during the Covid era, the idea of weekly fixtures is certainly encouraging.

“I’ve always been a big advocate of reserve-grade rugby. We managed to get a reserve team at Halifax when nobody else in the Championship had one,” Marshall said.

“The last 18 months have been so challenging for these players so it’s important that they just get to play rugby. They’ve probably trained more than they’ve played.

“They’re desperate to get out on the field and wear the shirt with pride and I’m looking forward to enabling them to do that.”