Aussie forward, 29, admits his team-mates were caught off-guard by Sam Burgess’ surprise tactic – but it bodes well for 2025
After getting freaked out by exploding grenades at training, Warrington’s Luke Yates is looking forward to a relaxed Christmas.
The Aussie prop and his Wolves team-mates got the shock of their lives at a session this week. Head coach Sam Burgess had deployed the “Civvy 2 Commando” team to infiltrate their practice and test them to the hilt with a series of military drills.
Yates recalled: “There’d been murmurs in the morning something might happen. But people are always playing jokes on each other and we didn’t think any more about it once our actual training started as normal.
“Where we are, they do police training so we do hear the odd explosion. But then one of the grenades went off really near us. I was like ‘jeez, they could have given us a bit of warning or notice.’ But then we all realised it was for us!”
As a bunch of commandos swarmed the field, the bemused Super League players – who underwent a pre-season camp with ex-star of SAS: Who Dares Wins Ant Middleton in January – were put to the test. Yates, 29, added: “They were flogging us, tipping water over our heads and loads of physical stuff.
“They had the fire hose on us for a while then we did an hour of jiu jitsu with the Yorkshire Gripper, a famous wrestler in the grappling world. In the afternoon, we had a bit of fun shooting pellet guns, abseiling and some minefield teamwork to get through which was really good.
“And then later that night we had to do an operation and rescue some of our injured lads which involved tactics and teamwork. The boys responded really well and we got a lot out of it.”
Given Warrington twice suffered near-miss heartache last season, losing the Challenge Cup final to Wigan and a Super League semi-final at Hull KR, Burgess is keen to unlock every marginal gain possible for 2025. And Yates, who significantly bolstered their pack after a mid-season move from Huddersfield, reckons his boss is on the right path.
He said: “The boys were saying he’s up to something. He’s done his fair share of army camps and sees the value in them. It galvanises us as a team. He took a bit of a step back and watched how people reacted.
“We’ve identified some key areas we need to improve in as a group for next season. We weren’t miles off where we ended up. If we can tighten up in these areas in pre-season – two, three four or five percent better – it can have a knock-on effect in terms of results.
“We weren’t a million miles away. If we get these little bits in place, at the top end of the table, it’s only fine margins where you lose games. If we get that cycle going early in the season, I think the sky’s the limit.”
Matters were far more relaxing when the Warrington squad delivered Christmas presents around the town on Friday.
Yates admitted: “It was a bit of a contrasting week! Friday was very rewarding. We visited the Children’s ward and the stroke ward, too. It’s a tough time of year to be in there but it was lovely to see so many smiling faces.”
