Plans in place for a bright future

WATERHEAD ARLFC have a new coaching team as they look towards life in Division Three of the National Conference League. PICTURE: VINCENT BROWN

RUGBY: MICK Slicker wants to make Waterhead the finest amateur club in the town.

The Peach Road club was relegated to Division Three of the National Conference League after a miserable season and Slicker, who had been working in the successful junior ranks following his departure as first-team coach nearly five years ago, has returned as chairman.

“The club needed picking up a bit,” said Slicker (60), whose son Mick Junior has been installed as director of rugby.

“It will take more than just my effort to sort it out, but we have some good expertise on board. It’s a fresh challenge and there is plenty of work ahead. The club hasn’t been run as it should have been, but all I can do is look to the future.”

The big challenge, as he sees it, is in making the club more than simply a talent nursery for Super League clubs, which it does very successfully.

“We have to build up the amateur side of things and become successful in those terms again. We will start from the bottom, identify where things aren’t great and it will take a lot of work, but we will get there. Our ambition is to be the best team in the town.”

Next year, Waterhead enter a Division Three featuring sides from as far afield as Peterlee Pumas, stationed in the North East, and Gateshead Storm.