SWINTON LIONS boss Paul Wood says he will keep making changes to find the right recipe for success.
Wood is leaning on his experience of playing under some of the game’s best team chiefs in his first coaching job in the professional game.
He said: “We were left with seven players at the end of 2024. We are a new team.
“We’ve built a team. It’s my job to find the best structures, the best players, and if that means I have to keep bringing players in and moving players around and giving people the opportunity, then I will do.
“I pick the team but I have various different voices – coaching staff, medical, analysts – who I speak to and I see things at training as well.
“For me to pick the team, there are a lot of different variables, as well as looking at what structure is going to fit for us as a team and what players are going to complement each other.
“My job is to bring in players to perform, and there is going to be a lot of trial and error this year.
“I keep saying it’s a project, there’s a bigger picture to all this and I’m really confident in what we’re doing.
“There are some non-negotiables that I’m looking for from players and if they’re not delivering that then unfortunately they’re not going to play.
“I’m challenging them constantly and that’s my job as a coach, and that’s what I’ve seen from my experience as a player. Coaches need to challenge you, they need to test you, and push your boundaries and sometimes players don’t like that. But when we do it, we get the best out of them.”
The bigger picture Wood talks about was evident last week when the Lions Pathways was officially launched at Salford University.
More than 100 boys and girls attended as the club look for the next generation of players for its Lions and Lionesses teams.
Wood added: “It was a fantastic evening at Salford University attending the Swinton Lions Talent Pathway training session, showcasing the club’s commitment to developing young Rugby League players.
“The dedication and effort behind the scenes to organise this event and engage so many aspiring players was impressive.
“The session highlighted some outstanding emerging talent, reinforcing the value of this pathway in identifying and nurturing players who may have been overlooked by traditional Scholarship or Academy systems.
“One of the key roles of the Swinton Lions club is to keep individuals involved in the sport, offering them a genuine opportunity to progress — potentially even to first-team level.
“There’s no doubt that future stars, like Matty Ashton, are out there. It’s encouraging to see the incredible work being done to build and sustain such vital development pathways.”