Wakefield Trinity boss Mark Applegarth believes he has a team that can deliver
Wakefield Trinity boss Mark Applegarth believes the backroom staff he has assembled for next year will help take the club to another level.
James Ford has come in as Mark’s assistant, leaving the head coach role at York City Knights he has made a big success of.
Andreas Liefeith has been appointed as head of performance while under him is Joel Fulford, who has returned to the club as first-team strength and conditioning coach, and Matt Cook, who specialises in speedwork.
David Cooper will continue as head physiotherapist, with physio Ryan Carmody and sports therapist Leanne McPherson working alongside him. Stuart Dickens also remains as welfare manager and Mark Houlton as performance analyst.
Taking over from Applegarth as the new head of youth is Matty Nicholson.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get the right people and I’m really delighted with the team we’ve put together,” said Applegarth.
“Me and Fordy grew up coaching together at Wakefield College and he’s gone on to do really well at York.
"He compliments me really well in terms of our strengths and I think he’ll be a great addition to the group.
“He’s a real technical coach, good at detailing, speaks well in front of the group and a real thinker of the game. I’m really delighted to have him on board.
"It’s a little bit of a new look with the performance team.
"Andreas has been in the background at Wakefield for about 15 years, right from when I was a young academy player. He’s really good at structuring a programme and I think he will be great for getting, shall we say, a certain standard back.
"Joel has been here before and is a real quality member of staff. He keeps things fresh and is always trying to be pro-active.
"We’ve got Matt Cook coming up. His speciality is more the running mechanics and speedwork and transferring that into the games. I know Tom Johnstone got a lot of benefit working with Cooky and it can only be a good things that we’ve got him working with more members of our squad.
"I think Matty Nicholson will be a fantastic head of youth. He’ll definitely build on what’s there and make it bigger and better than ever.”
Trinity players will be back in training from Monday, October 31.