WELL, well, well – Warrington have gone for Sam Burgess as their coach from next season onwards.
It’s an intriguing and high-profile appointment. Sam is a really big name in both hemispheres, and I wish him well as he takes on a challenge that has proved beyond so many others.
Not since 1955 have Warrington won the title, and with the best will in the world, Daryl Powell’s stand-in replacement Gary Chambers has his work cut out if he is to do it this year with this bunch of players, who have produced gutless performances too many times.
I was disappointed to see Chairman Stuart Middleton saying the board made the wrong decision to appoint Daryl.
There was implied criticism in his comments, but they weren’t saying that they’d made a mistake eight matches into this season, when Warrington were top of the table with a 100 percent record.
As Mr Middleton also said, the powers that be at the club need to learn lessons from how they’ve been operating – and act on them.
You have to ask what the thought process was over going for Sam after Justin Holbrook gave backword and pulled out of a lucrative move to Warrington to link up with Trent Robinson at Sydney Roosters instead.
How did they go from targeting an experienced, proven coach to appointing a rookie so quickly? Where is the consistency in their decision making? Is this a panic move?
That’s not me having a go at Sam, by the way, and as I’ve said, I hope he does well, and uses what he has learned from a fine and varied playing career and his early steps into coaching via the South Sydney Rabbitohs system.
One thing is for sure. Sam won’t put up with any nonsense from any players at Warrington, where there seems to have been a soft attitude for a while.
Having been in Australia for so long, he will bring an NRL mindset and razor-sharp focus and mentality to the job, and demand exactly the same from his players.
There will be no easy rides with Sam. It will be his road or the high road.
