WHEN sitting down with Richard Marshall, you can sense his excitement about how the next few years could pan out.

Many eyebrows were raised when, fresh out of a Super League head coach’s role with Salford Red Devils, he decided to return to his hometown club as academy head coach.

From dealing with established stars, he is now tasked with nurturing the future of Warrington Wolves alongside head of youth Gary Chambers and scholarship head coach Tyrone McCarthy – two more men who have served the club with distinction.

Marshall has come full circle – from helping the club win an under 20s Grand Final in 2012 and back again via Halifax, St Helens and Salford – and at the moment, his move appears to be paying off.

Warrington Guardian: Warrington-born Richard Marshall is back at Warrington Wolves as academy head coach

Having been a Super League head coach at Salford Red Devils last year, Richard Marshall is back at Warrington Wolves as academy head coach

His under 18s side are currently on a six-game winning run while McCarthy’s under 16s team have four victories from five outings this year – so what’s the secret?

“I’ve been at the club before and I’m from Warrington, so I’m invested in it,” Marshall said.

“Gary Chambers is ‘Mr Warrington’ and Tyrone McCarthy is doing a great job with the scholarship and assisting me with the 18s.

“On Saturday, he came in to work with us even though he was in the Combined Nations set-up later that day – it shows we’ve got a real hard-working group of staff.

“That includes our conditioner Liam Myler and Ben Say our physio as well.

“I’ve coached in Super League and I know what it takes to get there, so we’re running a very similar programme to a full-time operation.”

It would be unfair to leave the contributions of Marshall’s predecessor Paul Anderson and previous head of youth Pete Riding unrecognised – under them, the fortunes of an academy that has fallen short of providing a healthy production line of players to the first team began to turn around.

Connor Wrench and Josh Thewlis have both made sustained breakthroughs, with Ellis Longstaff and Riley Dean getting opportunities in the senior side too.

Now, the aim of Chambers, Marshall and McCarthy is to help take that to the next level.

With The Wire sitting third in the academy table with four games to go, more silverware could be on its way but ultimately, Marshall knows they will be judged on how many of his talented group make it to Super League level.

Warrington Guardian:

Scrum-half Leon Hayes is among the talented group of players currently starring for the academy side. Picture by Bob Brough

“That’s the challenge,” he acknowledges.

“I say to the players every week that they have to look at whoever’s in their position in the first team and think to themselves “I’m coming for your shirt.” That’s what we want here at Warrington.

“A lot of these lads are local, but we’ve got a good blend.

“At the end of the day, they’re not all going to make it. It’s a difficult programme we run, but what they all do is give 100 per cent effort through every session.

“We’re seeing that on the field but we’ve got to sustain that now.

“We’ve got a bit of a break now and a lot of the lads will be playing reserve grade, but then we’ll get back into it.

“We know that business end is coming soon and we want to be in a really good position.”

Marshall also knows that a new supply line of talent to his side is also successfully bubbling away in the background.

The club’s development academy partnership with Priestley College is bearing plenty of fruit, with the Priestley team recently winning the College Rugby League Cup Final at Headingley.

Warrington Guardian:

The Priestley College Development Academy team won the College Grand Final against Leeds at Headingley earlier this year

Three players who turned out that day – Sam Marshall, Bobby Shingler and Logan Raughter – all signed their first professional academy deals after coming through the Priestly system

“There’s several players who are playing well for us who have come through the Priestley programme,” Marshall said.

“They were just playing for the college 12 months ago and they may have been lost to the system, but we’ve given them the opportunity.

“We’ve got a great link now with Priestley and these players aren’t just making up the numbers. They’re part of the fabric of our youth department.

“I think we’ve already got 60 or 70 signed up to that programme for next year, so it’s only going to get better.”

The next academy team game is not until July 16, when Marshall's side travel to Castleford Tigers.