The Star’s Mike Critchley had a sit-down chat with the 50-year-old former Leigh, Toronto and Salford Red Devils boss who steps into the Saints hotseat after signing a three-year-deal.

We will break the Q&A down into three parts to make it manageable – but here is part 1.

MC: Who have you managed to meet so far and see and what’s been your first impressions of the club?

PR: I am really keen to get round and meet everybody on the football side of things first, S&C and medical, and the two assistant coaches. I’ve had a call with Freddie (Eamon O’ Carroll), and had a good chat with Lee Briers, who is staying with England camp in Worsley as part of his England duties.

And obviously I have met all the office staff. It’s a bigger organisation than what I’m used to, so there’s more people to meet and more names to learn – I’m an ex-hooker after all, so that will take me a while.

But it’s rugby league, so everybody’s nice, aren’t they? It’s been a really enjoyable first week.

MC: Do you get anything in the way of handover notes from your predecessor Paul Wellens, and have you spoken with Paul?

PR: I’ve had a chat with Paul – who I played alongside for England in the 2000 World Cup and against him many times. I think he’s just the sort of guy that everybody respects, and so I know that that’s an open phone call if ever needed.

I’ll take him up on that and grab a brew at some point, no doubt. I hold Paul and the highest regard.

With regards to both the assistants we’ve had some chats about where they think we could look to strengthen, whether that be in terms of personnel or in our approach.

I told myself I would come here with some fresh eyes because in a way it’s very different. I usually build from the bottom and that usually involves, full team, full staff and kicking the doors in a little bit.

But I think I’m coming in here maybe a little bit quieter with an organisation that’s in full flow and I’m going to embrace that because it’s a successful one.

But after discussions with people, there’s an appetite to have some change as well.

And so in that respect, I think as the week has gone on, I’ve probably become a little bit more bolshy in the fact that I might just walk a little bit taller and I might just kick one door in a little bit.

There’s an appetite to change, and I’ll make sure that I’m fulfilling that want and that need and the recognition that we just need a little bit of something else to take us to that next step.

Paul Rowley (Image: Paul Currie/SWpix.com)

MC: With the players, they’re obviously away from the club at the moment – when do you get them in and when do you get to speak with those?

PR: I’ve seen two or three of the boys yesterday on a promo, but this is downtime now for them so I don’t want to be too intrusive in that.

If I get a chance I’m going to try and grab a brew with the England boys at some point.

But I don’t want to interfere in their commitments, and I don’t want to distract from what they’re doing with England.

So there’s no rush in doing that and that’s what I’m telling myself.

The early exchanges of the pre-season are predominantly S&C led anyway, so I can dip my toe in and start getting around and meeting people then in a less formal environment.

I want everything to be relaxed in my conversations and I want to build relationships and learn to trust them and them to trust me; show a little bit of vulnerability both ways and that’s how we’ll become close as a group.

And I’m open-minded to everything and I’m going to embrace what they want, but I want them to embrace what I want as well.

MC: Have you gone straight into it – do you not get a break because I thought you would have been suffering a bit of a sporting equivalent of PTSD after last year at Salford.

PR: I’m glad you recognise that, and I absolutely need a break! (he laughed). I’m going to get that, whether that be 3, 4, 5, six days as I do need one. But again this has happened really quick.

I was prepared to get to the end of the year (with Salford) and actually into next year. I was very patient and I wanted to be last man standing at Salford and do that all right.

I didn’t want to conflict my thoughts until I had finished business there.

But as a result of all of those contributing factors, this (the Saints job) has come late in the piece.

You get edgy and I’ve been here every day and not particularly got any work done – so just probably getting a feel of the place a little bit, get to know people and just get comfortable so to speak.

I’ll probably do that for a few more days yet and then hopefully get three or four days off – even if it’s just at home switching off.

MC: You emerged from last year with more credits, not just to keep that Salford show on the road but also keep them competitive.

And you actually managed to do something that Saints didn’t do last year – beat Warrington with that Salford team.

What man-management does it take to keep those players happy with everything they were going through?

PR: Well, by the end, they were all players from different clubs and environments with a different objective because some wanted an opportunity, and had never played in Super League.

Some wanted an opportunity to show that they’re still Super League level.

And so for me, the fun bit was meeting all the new people with all the individual goals and objectives and met some characters and being able to facilitate that was really rewarding and fulfilling.

Paul Rowley celebrates Salford’s win over Warrington last year (Image: Paul Currie/SWpix.com)

I actually started to enjoy the last two or three months in particular and the win against Warrington was certainly a highlight.

You find joy in circumstances that you never thought you would, and that’s how it was for me, and then the relationship with the supporters was pretty special. There’s a lot of good moments and you just need to look for them sometimes.

Paul Rowley (Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)

MC: You mentioned earlier about building things up and it being slightly different here, but the time at Leigh, Toronto and Salford, you have more or less built something up without the same scale of expectation there is at a club like St Helens.

Does that change how you approach things are or what pressure is on you?

PR: I don’t think it’ll change how I am.

I think it is clearly there, but I think anything in sport is about being consistent, so I’ll come in here and be consistent.

I’m going to be how I’ve been for the rest of the 33 years or whatever it is I’ve been in this sport.

It’s about being consistent, and I’ll do that, and the pressure and the noise these days is different.

Pressure and noise is generally external and the fact that we have become public property.

When I started, there were no internet and I think I was one of the one of the guys who were held on to not taking the plunge and getting a Nokia.

So, it’s different now, it’s a different pressure, and it’s about managing the people around you half the time, but I’ve become all right with that.

I have a little bubble that is protective and, but I recognise that this club wants to win, but I want to win. So, it’s no different.

We’re competitors, we start this sport and you stay in this sport because you want to win.

And winning comes in different ways, little battles, big battles, but ultimately silverware.

So I’m no different than anybody else, but it’s definitely pressure, I can’t deny it.

Parts II and III will appear in coming days covering a wide range of the task he has at Saints.