Wolves make use of hi-tech pitch during pre-season

6:35am Thursday 20th December 2007

By Chris Flanagan

PAUL Cullen believes that Wolves will benefit greatly from training on an artificial pitch in Leigh during pre-season and hopes the club will be able to use a facility closer to home in the future.

With their regular training facilities at Wilderspool and William Beamont Community High School currently out of action because of bad weather, Wolves have been conducting their pre-season on a surface at the newly opened Leigh Sports Village - the site where Leigh Centurions' new stadium is being built.

The all-weather pitch is a third generation' surface, meaning it is virtually identical to a grass pitch, and Cullen thinks it is more suitable for his squad than the muddy pitches the club have had to use during previous winter pre-seasons.

He even feels that British clubs are at a disadvantage to Australian clubs when it comes to pre-season because of the bad winter weather here compared to the warm summer climate Down Under at this time of year.

And the Wolves boss hopes that an even more advanced fourth generation' surface will be built as part of the Orford Park Project, which is likely to provide new training facilities for the club.

"We've struggled at William Beamont and Wilderspool all the way through pre-season," said Cullen.

"Neither the first team, the under 21s or the under 18s have trained at Wilderspool because it's been very muddy, underwater or frozen.

"We could have canoed at William Beamont over the past fortnight, the weather's been that bad.

"We've picked up sticks and gone to Leigh Sports Village. We're doing our pre-season on the third generation all-weather, which is a fantastic surface.

"I've noticed that Newcastle rugby union have got a fourth generation pitch and actually play games on it.

"From what we've seen of the third generation, it's certainly good enough. It's the way forward for winter pre-season training.

"If you ask the Kiwis and the Aussies who come over, the biggest difference is that their pre-season is done in fantastic conditions - top of the ground training - and with ours we're ankle deep in mud and our facilities at either Wilderspool or William Beamont aren't that good.

"Our long-term plans are within the Orford Park Project and hopefully that fourth generation all-weather will be looked at because it's something that's certainly needed."