STEVE Price has already learned three things during his short time in England – traffic woes, white Christmases usually do not happen and Warrington fans are not backwards in coming forwards.
But the new Wolves boss hopes to avoid two of them now he is here.
The Australian, who was assistant at NRL side Cronulla, is the man who has replaced Tony Smith after eight years that saw them turned into genuine title contenders.
New players have come in, with Bryson Goodwin, Tyrone Roberts and Ben Murdoch-Masila the three biggest and expect changes in the way they play.
But Price, 39, is getting wound up far more by one thing and has been warned that the real chill is yet to come.
He said: “Traffic can be bad. You could say it will take you five minutes to get somewhere and it ends up taking 45! You really have to plan your day to avoid getting stuck in it.
“But Warrington is a great little town with a lot of passionate people, with a really proud club – and the people definitely aren’t afraid to let you know what they think.
“It’s definitely not Cronulla but I had Ben Westwood, Mike Cooper and Lee Briers tell me that if I think this is cold, wait until January and February!”
Price makes his debut as boss in tonight’s friendly at Widnes, and he admits it feels strange to be preparing for a game at this time of year.
But his squad, minus four England players and Tongan new boy Murdoch-Masila because of their World Cup efforts, has already been put through its paces at a tough Army camp in North Yorkshire.
Log carrying, mental exercises and trekking up the famed Three Peaks in cold and wet weather were all part of the activity.
But this was no measure of how macho everyone is, there was a real plan.
Price added: “It was a real eye opener for a lot of the guys, it was quite strenuous and tough at times – the Three Peaks is a fair old walk!
“But that was the idea, to build a lot of mental toughness. It was good to take them out of their comfort zone but everyone really stepped up.”
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