Wolves go from strength to strength

WARRINGTON Wolves’ strength and conditioning coach Chris Baron has agreed a two-year contract extension with the club.
Chris, 27, initially joined the club on a two-year deal ahead of the 2010 season and will therefore now be at the club until November 2013.
In his first season the team lifted the Carnegie Challenge Cup trophy for the second consecutive year and finished third in Super League. This consistency amongst the team continued into 2011 as they topped the table after 27-rounds lifting the League Leaders Shield and Chris has played a huge part in the development of the playing squad’s fitness.
This year’s Gillette Four Nations tournament also saw Chris recognised at international level being selected as part of the strength and conditioning set-up for the England Team throughout the series.
During the off-season there have been a number of contract extensions and also new faces added within the performance team with Andrew Holleyhead joining as assistant to Chris on a one-year contract along with nutritionist Mark Ellison both of who Chris feels will help take us to the next level.
Chris has enjoyed his first two years at the club and looks forward to building on this.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing the education and development of the players over the last two years and how they’re not just rugby players anymore they are taking things onboard and starting to look after their bodies. They are also doing things away from rugby which are having a positive affect on them. I’d like to think that over the last two years we’ve started to get stronger, more powerful, faster and a lot more efficient in the way we play the game which is pleasing as that is my remit. But probably most importantly they’ve become better people for it as well and have become a really close group.”
He added: “The experience with England gave me a lot of reassurance that we are doing the right things here at the club. I worked with Mark Bitcon, the Wigan conditioner, who is very good at what he does and working with other elite players like Kevin Sinfield and Jamie Peacock, to name a few, helped too. I picked up on some things on the recovery side which is one of the most important components of training, picking up a few details and how to apply them well.”
Ross Mitchell has joined the club as assistant to head physiotherapist John Hartley on a one-year contract. Ross joins the club from his role as assistant academy physio at St Helens and replaces Andrew McDonough who has moved on to a role at Widnes Vikings.
Player welfare manager Karl Fitzpatrick has also taken on more responsibility and has extended his contract for a further year with kicking coach Colin Stephens also extending his stay until November 2012.