YORK VALKYRIE coach Lindsay Anfield has praised the impact former Super League star Richard Whiting has had on her side since joining as her assistant over the winter.
The former Hull FC favourite, who played over 250 games for the club before spells at Leigh and Toronto, has added extra experience to the backroom staff at the reigning Super League champions.
And Anfield can already see his knowledge is paying off as the new season approaches.
“Rich has brought a real depth and insight to the women’s games in terms of the way we can do different things,” said Anfield, who saw the club’s Challenge Cup campaign get underway against Sheffield on Sunday.
“That has been really beneficial for me and the culture we have at the club. “It’s given the players a bit more of a challenge to step up, try new things and be more of an attractive product.
“The players are really responding well to him. He winds them up a lot but he’s fitted in really well and has a lot of admiration for the women’s game.
“He’s playing a significant role in the changes we’ll be making to hopefully improve again on last year.”
York will return to action Sunday, April 7 in their second and final Challenge Cup group game against Featherstone, after being handed a weekend off this week due to the withdrawal from the competition of Castleford.
Despite the cup forming part of Anfield’s pre-season plans, she doesn’t believe the loss of one fixture will have too much of a detrimental effect on their preparations.
“Sheffield offered us an important marker of where we are and gave us the chance to have a look at a few players to see where they are after pre- season,” added Anfield.
“Losing the Castleford game isn’t ideal, but equally if they weren’t going to be in a position to compete with us then it probably wasn’t going to be ideal preparation for either side.
“We know the game against Featherstone will be really competitive, so that will be a great build-up to facing St Helens in week one of Super League.”
