AT this point last year, Stuart Middleton was a man who had taken a significant gamble.
After 18 months of underachievement, Daryl Powell’s tenure as Warrington Wolves head coach ended in failure and to the surprise of many, the club’s decision-makers turned to Sam Burgess – a modern-day icon as a player but untried at the top level as a head coach – to reverse their fortunes.
So after a season of undoubted improvement, with Burgess having guided the club to a third-place finish, their first Challenge Cup Final since 2019 and a first play-off victory since a year earlier, how does Middleton feel about his decision now?
In Part One of a three-part Q&A session with the Warrington Guardian’s Matt Turner, the Wire chairman reflects on the 2024 campaign on the pitch, and what needs to be done to take the final step…
MT: I think when we sat down pretty much at this time last year, Sam Burgess had just been appointed and it’s probably fair to say there were some mixed reviews after a couple of difficult seasons.
Twelve months later, how do you assess where things are at for the club as a whole?
SM: On the pitch, it’s obviously a massive improvement. Sam has done a great job.
I said at the time that it was a gamble for us – we’d been down the experienced route with Tony Smith, Steve Price and Daryl Powell and as things went on, it didn’t work for us so we had to do something different.
We got criticised for it at the time with Sam being a young coach with not much experience, but we had that belief in him. He’s a leader and he’s given us that resilience to compete out there, not give up and be proud to wear the shirt.
We’ve been very close at the top, getting through to Wembley and finishing third – if things would have gone a little differently with decisions and things like that, we’d have been up there at the top.
It’s been a great improvement from the last two years and it will only get better now. I’m really looking forward to next season.
I have to give credit as well to the rest of the coaching staff as well – with Martin Gleeson and Richard Marshall in there, we’ve got a really good team in there that’s going to be in place for the next couple of years.
I’m hopeful now that, on the field, we’ll be there or thereabouts and getting closer.
MT: Like you touched on there, it’s probably not unfair to say appointing Sam Burgess was a gamble.
Without wishing to proclaim it as you being vindicated in doing that because as he himself has said, the job isn’t finished yet, has he at the very least shown your faith in him hasn’t been misplaced?
SM: He certainly has.
We’ve got some great players and some stars in there but in the past when things haven’t gone our way, we’ve backed down and not believed in ourselves.
That’s what he’s brought to us – we’ve had the quality of players in the past, but we’ve underperformed to be honest. He’s come in and given the group that belief and motivation.
That’s what we’ve been missing as a club.
MT: There is obviously a core of star talent in there – the likes of George Williams, Matt Dufty, Paul Vaughan etc – but one of the biggest plus points this year has arguably been the success of the homegrown players – the likes of Arron Lindop, Leon Hayes, Adam Holroyd, Cai Taylor-Wray etc.
To that end, is the ultimate goal now to build a future around those young players and make them the bedrock?
SM: Certainly.
That was always our plan and that’s why we appointed Gary Chambers as director of rugby. We’ve got to create our own stars and in the past, we’ve maybe not given them enough opportunities.
Again, hats off to Sam – he’s given them that chance and put trust and belief in them to perform.
You can see it’s starting to bear fruit and with the finances the way they are in the sport, having homegrown lads who are proud to wear our shirt is going to be more and more important.
A lot of them are Warrington lads as well like Leon Hayes, Arron Lindop, Connor Wrench – they’ll die for the team and the town and it’s great you’re seeing them in the team now.
MT: How big is Gary Chambers in that? He’s obviously not from Warrington but you’ll probably struggle to find someone more passionate about the place and the club.
He’s said a few times that Warrington needs to be considered a “developing club” rather than a “buying club” so with that in mind, are we moving away from the chasing of “megastar” signings or will that always be there?
SM: There’s got to be a balance.
What we don’t want to do is shoot ourselves in the foot there and just play the young players for the sake of saving a bit of money. You’ve got to have a balance.
If there are good players available, we will make that decision.
We’ve got to consider it if the right player comes along because we’ve got to compete with the rest of Super League.
MT: Wigan obviously won all of the trophies available so at the moment, they are the benchmark on the field and arguably off it as well.
As a club in every respect, do you feel like you’re far off them?
SM: No, I don’t.
On the field, we’ve beaten Wigan this season and also beat St Helens several times, and that was always the challenge.
How many times have we fallen short against teams like them?
We’re certainly competing with them on the field and next year, we’ll be even better.
Off the field, they’re obviously a great club in a diehard rugby league heartland. They do well with the engagement with the fans and getting them through the turnstiles, which is something we need to work harder at if we want to achieve the same things.
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