WARRINGTON Wolves recently welcomed junior French International Lucas Albert to get a taste of life within the Under-16 Academy programme.
Following a visit by French Under-16 and Under-18 National Coach Thierry Dumaine, the Wolves have established a link with the French Federation to support junior players such as Lucas.
Lucas came highly recommended by the experienced international coach and predominantly plays in the halves positions. He hails from Carcassonne and was part of the French Under-16 team that played tests against the England Youth team last season.
During his week’s visit Lucas spent time with the Under-16, Under-19 and first-grade squads; taking part in a number of training sessions and exercises. In addition he also attended Warrington Collegiate to take part in lessons as well as field activities.
He got the opportunity to observe local club matches involving Burtonwood Bulldogs and Latchford Albion plus the Under-19 Academy match against London Broncos and young Wolves at partnership club Swinton Lions.
Ben Lazenby, Wolves’ head of youth, was delighted with Lucas’ visit and was complimentary of his personal qualities as well as his skill level.
“Lucas’ attitude was second to none. He is a polite, courteous and well-mannered young man, and that is very important to us at Warrington Wolves. Our philosophies recognise that the quality of the person comes first and Lucas demonstrated that he is the type of person we would want at the club.
“Lucas got involved in a number of different training sessions and environments during his stay and we were impressed with his skill level, his spatial awareness and vision. I am looking forward to seeing him play in some games and will watch – with interest – the junior international test matches. Hopefully Lucas will return in the summer to play a game for the Wolves Under-16s, and maybe even get a game for one of the local community teams.”
Under-16 head coach Gary Chambers added: “Lucas’ coach was over here a couple of weeks ago and he was singing his praises. Lucas came in and backed that up. He was fantastic. We did a skills session and he’s got a fantastic kicking game. He’s got speed, vision and his pass quality is excellent. He looks like the full package. He’s got a nice temperament too; as a product he looks really good. If we could get him in and signed up I’d definitely play him. Halfbacks who have his attitude are like hens teeth.”
Lucas said on his short visit to the Wolves.
“It’s been really good, the boys are ‘super cool’. It has been a busy week with long days, I’ve watched the (under) 14s, 15s and 16s and I went with the 19s to the London game, which was a good match. The training is more difficult for me because in France it’s not as physical. At Warrington it’s more physical and the level (of players) are good for their age. I thank Thierry (Dumaine) for helping me come here, he visited Warrington to watch what they do to support players.”
