We had a meeting to discuss things but my position did not come under pressure
Posted in General on 06. Aug, 2010
We had a meeting to discuss things, but my position did not come under pressure.”The club has released the former Wigan winger Wes Cotton in order to make room for one of their new signings, the Auckland Warriors wingman, Paul Staladi, in next year’s squad. Staladi’s signing is dependent on his having played enough first grade games to qualify for a work permit.Also on his way is Castleford’s Australian centre, David Chapman, cut from the playing staff at Wheldon Road after a season badly affected by injury.Featherstone have appointed Kevin Hobbs, one of their coaching staff since 1992, as their head coach. Despite suggestions that Currie’s job was under threat at a board meeting yesterday to assess a poor season, the Broncos’ chief executive, Tony Rea, insisted he would still be there in 1999. WARRINGTON HAVE sold their Wilderspool ground, their home for 100 years, to their local council for pounds 1m. Although they will continue to play there for the immediate future, the deal paves the way for the club to move to a new stadium elsewhere in the town. The council leader, John Gartside, said the deal had saved the club. He said: “The rugby club was going out of business, due to its debts.
We believe the club is a valuable asset to the town and are not willing to sit back and let it die.”
The infusion of cash will not only ease Warrington’s financial position, but will also help finance the team-building their coach, Darryl Van de Velde, is engaged on in Australia.The London Broncos have denied their coach, Tony Currie, is on his way out of the club. It’s all right for the chairman and the chief executive to vote for it, but it’s us that’s going to be out there playing 35 or 40 games a season. I think they should listen to what the senior players say.”They have to think about the quality of the product. They’ve just got it right now and I hope they don’t blow it by tiring players out and then expecting them to go out and beat Australia.”Beating Halifax is a more immediate concern. If Joynt and his team-mates flex their muscles as effectively as they have recently, they can continue to make McRae’s prolonged goodbye a memorable one.. It’s something I enjoy, because it gets my mind off rugby.”When his mind is on rugby, which is most of the time, Joynt has strong opinions. While players at all clubs have grumbled about the proposal for a 30-game season – with attendant midweek matches – next year, he has done something about it.”The senior players have met with the chairman to make our views known.
After he finishes training, he has another job – running a graphic design company that numbers some famous names among its clients.”I just do a couple of hours a day. If we play as a team, we’ve got the players to do something special. It doesn’t just come from one area.”Joynt, already with 15 caps to his credit, has been mentioned as a possibility for a switch to the front row for the Tests against New Zealand this autumn. It is a role he has played before, but he is not keen to slot in there again just yet. His pace since his return suggests that he still has what it takes in the second row.”I don’t think the front row’s for me for a couple of seasons yet,” he says “I’m the fittest I’ve been for a long time. He has returned from a hernia operation with a new spring in his stride and his attacking thrust down the left-hand side of the field, alongside the on-song Paul Newlove and Anthony Sullivan, can embarrass the best defences.”I work down the left-hand channel and we are strong out there,” he says “But you can’t shut three other players out of the play.
Being a full-time professional is a big help when you’re coming back from an operation.”Yet, unusually, Joynt is not “full time” in the way that his team-mates are. He’s given the same commitment you’d get from someone with a job for life.”Commitment is important to Joynt. When anyone, like Goulding prior to moving to Huddersfield, is weakening the team effort, he is their harshest critic. He’ll go away, have a think about it and say `OK, we’ll try that’.”Despite his loyalty to McRae, Joynt does not condemn out of hand the way in which the Saints board have dispensed with him.”They were up front about needing a new coach, and I admire them for being straight with him But he’s shown the sort of bloke he is. It is notable that, since he took over the captaincy, there has been a newly united front on the field, regardless of what might be going on in the boardroom.His own form as an individual is a factor in this, because few players give a lift to those around them quite as obviously as Joynt when he is on top of his game.
He doesn’t think he’s always right and you can bounce ideas off him. I’ve learnt more every year, not just about rugby but about life in general, and I think that applies to all the players,” he says.”One of his attributes is that you can always discuss team matters and discipline matters with him. The success with which he has done so can be gauged from the way that Saints, after such a stuttering season, go into tonight’s Super League elimination match at Halifax with every hope of progressing further.
Joynt gives much of the credit for keeping the show on the road to Shaun McRae, the coach effectively sacked for next season and now playing out time.”The lads owe it to Shaun after three seasons with him. The spelling might be wrong, but the strength and flexibility of Chris Joynt has been a crucial element in keeping the whole potentially rickety structure upright. As captain, Joynt has had to stabilise the team during the post-Bobbie Goulding, pre-Ellery Hanley phase of its eventful history.