ASSISTANT coach Paul Deacon has praised an unsung hero who is fuelling Wigan’s bid to regain the Super League title.
While team chief Matt Peet and his squad inevitably grab the headlines, others among a Warriors staff more than 150 strong play important roles.
They include chef Chris McVey, who works with the club’s performance team to ensure an optimal diet for the players.
Deacon believes the eve-of-match ‘pasta station’ set up by McVey helps the squad mentally as well as physically.
He told the club website: “It was started halfway through the season and Chris is at Robin Park (Wigan’s training centre) the night before every game whipping up a choice of pasta to get the lads ready.
“It’s also another bit of bonding. The lads bring their families down and we just enjoy some food together.”
McVey last week joined Deacon and his fellow assistant coaches Sean O’Loughlin and Thomas Leuluai in Harrogate, where Peet put his players through their paces.
The League Leaders’ Shield-winning Warriors, like second-placed Leeds, sat out the first stage of the play-offs and instead headed to the Yorkshire spa town for a training camp.
“The concept of these camps is for the lads to get away and spend a bit of time together before hopefully the last two games of the season,” explained Deacon.
“Most importantly, it’s an opportunity to get some good work done on the training field and hopefully the lads got a lot out of it tactically and physically.
“But they also got the chance of a bit of a rest and to enjoy some downtime.”
Having won the Challenge Cup as well as the League Leaders’ Shield, Wigan are now eyeing a third Grand Final triumph in four years. They host Wakefield Trinity in Saturday’s semi-final.