MARK APPLEGARTH plans to keep Sean Long at Wakefield Trinity for the long term after welcoming the voice of his new assistant coach.
Head coach Applegarth started his rookie season as a Super League chief with James Ford as his number two.
But Ford departed in May and only last month was former St Helens and Great Britain star Long brought in as a replacement.
In a strange twist, Ford has replaced Long as Featherstone Rovers head coach following his surprise sacking by the Championship leaders, having initially joined the club as director of rugby under Long after leaving Wakefield.
“I brought Sean in long-term to be the attack coach,” Applegarth told League Express of Long, who previously held similar roles at Saints and Leeds Rhinos as well as in rugby union with Harlequins.
“He’s just starting to get to grips with that. It’s good to get another voice.
“When you’re doing it by yourself, you’re very conscious that you need a different point of view.
“You need someone to bounce ideas off, and also for delivery. No one wants to be coached by the same person day in, day out. Sometimes it’s good to get different sessions with different people.
“Sean has been great in that sense. I’ve got to thank Stu Dickens as well, our welfare manager (the former goal-kicking Featherstone prop has been on the Trinity staff since 2012). He’s also been helping out in the interim.
“It’s been an interesting year on that (coaching) front. I’m just glad we’ve got Sean on board and we can start putting some proper foundations down long-term.
“Naturally it’s always good to have a coaching team. It’s not that you don’t back yourself as a coach, but you need a team of coaches at this level.
“You want people telling you if your ideas are good or bad, and giving you an alternative viewpoint. That’s the importance of having a team.
“It’s important you build a diverse team that’s got different strengths and weaknesses. That’s how you complement each other and build a high-performing team.”
Applegarth added that his own appetite for coaching at the top level had not been dimmed by a season battling against relegation.
“It’s obviously been a baptism of fire at the top level, dealing with a few different circumstances that maybe you wouldn’t be expecting, on and off the field, but it’s been fun at the same time,” he said.
“In a weird way, I’d be very surprised if there’s many years as hard as this one. Hopefully it’s all experience that I can take moving forward.
“Life is about the ups and downs. Sometimes you’ve got to get a few punches landed on you and see how you get up from them to learn a lot about yourself.
“I’d had a few years previous to this at a different level (as the club’s head of youth and assistant coach) where things had been going really well. You know there’s going to be a year coming round where you’ll have to dig into your reserves and answer a few questions about yourself that you maybe don’t know the answer to yet.
“It’s coaching, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. Some years are a lot smoother than others but I’ve learned a hell of a lot about myself and a hell of a lot about my team. It can only stand you in good stead moving forward, can’t it?”
