York RLFC announced on Tuesday evening that the club had began a new partnership with Newcastle Thunder and Penrith Panthers, with the aim being to develop coaches and playing talent in the North East.
As a part of those changes, former York player Thorman has returned to the Knights for a second spell, working as a full-time coach in Applegarth’s team.
Applegarth believes that Thorman could be ‘a real good addition’ to the team in the long-term, with it providing additional support to existing coach Will Leatt, and with his knowhow providing expertise to the likes of Liam Harris and Ata Hingano.
“I know Chris because he was my coach at York when I came here, he was a player-coach,” Applegarth detailed.
“Clint, you’d have to ask Clint for a more in-depth analysis of how the partnership is fully going to work, but from Chris’ perspective, we have been looking for a coach mainly to help focus on our attack.
“He’ll help Will Leatt out, who has done an outstanding job, in leading on that.
“Chris will be really good, but especially for Liam and Ata when it comes to passing on the knowledge that he has got.
“He’s an ex-international half-back, and obviously there is a lot of respect for Chris for what he has been doing up at Newcastle.
“The Newcastle lads have been trying to operate in League One under some pretty difficult circumstances, but one thing that they can take a lot of credit from, is that at every training session, there are 30 lads showing up week in, week out.
“It’s been a couple of years now since they got their last win, and that’s a credit to Chris and everyone else up there for keeping that group together.
“Chris will be a real good addition for us in the long-term, in terms of his knowledge and his attacking knowhow, and I think he will compliment me very well, and he’ll compliment the group really well.
“He’ll be really good for Will Leatt too, in terms of helping to add a bit more knowledge to what he has been doing really well.”
Another positive of adding Thorman to the coaching team is his kicking game, which is something the new coach specialises in, and a factor which could help usual kicker Harris to add more points to the board.
Applegarth believes that it could be a positive in the long-term to the team to have someone with Thorman’s expertise, partnered with Leatt, Thorman will aid the Knights in improving the forward line, whilst Applegarth, who will also oversee training as a whole, can focus on his speciality – defending.
Applegarth laughed: “I used to wear predators when I played, so I can kick a ball!
“I try to lead on defence, that’s my thing, but obviously being Head Coach, I oversee everything.
“It’s really important that we bring other people in and let them get their teeth sunk into things.
“Will has been doing a fantastic job putting the meat on the bones with the attack, and Chris will compliment that even more.
“I just think that it’s got all of the makings for a good coaching team, all being well, but also for the squad in the long-term.”
Thorman’s arrival means that the Knights coaching team includes Applegarth, Leatt, Thorman and player-coach Paul McShane.
The latter, whilst primarily being a player for York, has also taken his first steps into coaching by supporting the staff at the club.
McShane’s role with the club also won’t change despite the added body to the coaching staff, with Applegarth confirming to the Press: “Macca’s roles not changed, he’s still player-coach.
“I get Macca leading in certain parts of training still, Macca is Macca, he loves it and his role hasn’t changed.”
The partnership between York, Newcastle and Penrith will see new talents uncovered in the North East, an area of the country which Applegarth believes has undiscovered quality.
It’s a role which Applegarth used to be involved in himself, working as Head of Youth at Betfred Super League side Wakefield Trinity, where he helped to find young talent that hadn’t yet been picked up by any of the neighbouring clubs.
Applegarth hopes that the partnership will also delve into other sports, such as football and rugby union, to help transition players into high-quality rugby league talent, should they be released from other sporting academies.
The Knights Head Coach said that he wants this project to ‘grow into something special’, and went into further detail on how it could allow Newcastle to prosper, to the benefit of York.
He explained: “In my old job at Wakefield, I was Head of Youth and I used to go into the North East quite often.
“I think Finn Thompson was probably the last one in my old job, that we took from the North East.
“There’s a hell of a lot of players, I think there’s a lot of players that get spat out of rugby union, a lot of players that get spat out of football academies, especially with Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough that we definitely need eyes on.
“It’s got that potential, and I think it’s great.
“Depending on how the league structure looks, it could be a good way to have your second team, and I don’t mean that how it sounds, but if you have a wider squad then you can have a lot of players playing under your brand of rugby for a team.
“I think there’s a load of elements there that could grow into something special, it’s just a case of what happens above and what the league structure looks like.
“If you sit down with Clint, I’m sure he will give you a better overview than I can, I’m a simple man that just focuses on coaching York’s first-team.”
