Wakefield's new chief Mark Applegarth hopes to follow the success of Wigan’s Matty Peet as he becomes Super League’s youngest head coach.
The 37-year-old has been promoted from assistant after Trinity boss Willie Poching and No2 Francis Cummins were axed on Monday. Applegarth’s already served a vast range of roles at Belle Vue including player performance manager, head of youth and reserves coach. His in-house progression is similar to Peet, 38, who came through Wigan’s coaching ranks before winning the Challenge Cup in his dream debut campaign as head coach this year.
Applegarth replaces him as Super League’s youngest boss and said: "I’ve always aspired to be a head coach. And I’m at an age now where I’m seeing some of my friends getting in those positions such as Matty at Wigan. I've known Matty a number of years. Everyone under Super League level knew he'd be a success.
“He's a good, honest bloke and knows Wigan inside out. He'd coached half of the team from being a young age. It's pleasing to see him doing well. He’s busy with Wigan’s semi-final but I dropped him a message the other evening and he gave me some words of advice.
“And it is pleasing to see a lot more young English coaches getting opportunities at this level. I don’t think there’s a linear route for success in getting such a job. There’s many different routes. I’ve taken mine and I do feel ready.”
Wakefield-born Applegarth admits he was “surprised” initially by developments earlier this week but instantly accepted the offer. He added: "I'd like to pay respects to Willie and Franny as I learned a load from those two this year. It did come as a shock but I'm delighted to take up the role. It's an honour and privelge to be in charge of my hometown club. But I also want to succeed."
For those Trinity fans who fear he doesn’t have enough experience, he said: “We've all got to start somewhere. I'd say just give me time and hopefully the performances will do the talking. If you don't back yourself, who is going to back you? I feel like I can offer something and the players know that. I've a good relationship with this group, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it."
Trinity have traditionally faced battles to avoid relegation but Applegarth, who played 47 times for his hometown club between 2004 and 2008, hopes to change that. He said: "I'm a proud Wakefield lad and I want to see Wakefield do well. We’ve had a period of history where we’ve been facing relegation and people talk about the success of the ‘60s but it’d be nice to move on from that and create our own history and put us on the map for the right reasons.
“We need to find consistency. We can’t afford to be yo-yo. The first thing I’ll be looking at is getting those minimum standards sorted. But there’s a lot of talent here at this club.”
Trinity chairman John Minards said: “On the question of age, in any business I've been involved with, if you're good enough you're old enough. Mark’s absolutely at the right time to take this on. We believe he's one of the brightest and best young coaches in the world of rugby league.”
