Warrington Wolves head coach, Sam Burgess, has discussed his thoughts on his second season in charge at the club and the effect the loss of the Challenge Cup Final had on his team.
The Wolves, which is the NRL legend’s first top flight coaching job, lost at Wembley in agonising fashion, as a late Tom Davies try gave Hull KR their first piece of silverware since 1985.
Burgess recently appeared on The Overlap Cricket podcast, as former players Alastair Cook, Michael Atherton, Phil Tufnell and David Lloyd questioned the 36-year-old on his coaching career so far.
He revealed he is loving his time at the Wolves, in what is his first senior coaching gig, and discussed just how close Warrington were to lifting the Challenge Cup.
He said: “I’m only a young coach, I’m 36 so I’m new at the game, I’m figuring that out. My style is I’m absolutely trying to be myself the whole time, and then I want the players to reach the potential with no regrets. So it’s trying to find a way for them to get the best game out, best performance out and enjoy themselves really.
“It’s good fun, it’s been great and I’m absolutely loving it at the moment.”
He continued: “[The team are] Struggling a bit this year. We played at Wembley, [we] should have won that. We got beat on the bell. It was heart-breaking. We had a tough loss there.”
Sam Burgess admits to Challenge Cup hangover
Burgess mentioned the rain during the match suited their style of play, however, they could not capitalise when it mattered most.
“We’ve got a great attacking side, we’ve got a bit of flair about us, but I’ve taught them to play tough as well. So it suited us on the day, but it’s hard to score points, we just needed to get a little bit further in front.”
“We were leading by four the whole game… we just needed to get a bit further in front, but we just couldn’t pull away. We got beat 8-6.”
The cross-code international admitted how much a heart-breaking defeat in the capital took it’s toll on the team for weeks after.
“It does [leave a mark]. For us, because we’d been struggling a bit in the league, we put a lot of energy into the Cup. So the cup runs throughout the league season, you break the league, play the cup.
“We’ve won five games to get to the final. So we’d put a lot of energy into that and yes, there was a bit of a hangover, because you lose there at Wembley and put a lot of energy into it. We then play Leeds the following week and we got rolled. We got rolled big time. We got beat again the week after that [too].”
Warrington, after the defeat to the Rhinos and then Huddersfield, went on a three-match winning run, however three defeats in a row after that leaves them out of the playoff spots and their season all but over.
Warrington Wolves boss reveals emotional motivator
Burgess’ father, Mark, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in the 2000’s, before his passing in 2007. Starting his playing career at Bradford Bulls at the time, he revealed how his father’s illness and passing shaped his mentality both as a player and as a person.
“I think a lot of it does go back to upbringing and the tragedy of losing my dad at such a young age. My father had MND, back then in 2006-2007 it was relatively unknown. We obviously know a lot more now due to some great work from Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir. It’s a tragic illness.
“At the time I was trying to make it as a player and then you get this news as a young lad. That gave me a bit more reason to make it. I think going through that at a younger age and understanding that there’s an end date so you’ve got to get it done before this time.
“I’d go and knock on the head coach’s door and say ‘what do I need to do to get into your team? I need to play and my dad’s got to see me play.’ It just taught me that if you want something you just have got to go and get it done.
“I had no plan B. There wasn’t another option. Figuring that out at 16, 17 years old it’s definitely helped me going forward. It’s helped me make more aggressive decisions and then have that bit of self belief and courage to go after stuff.”
