How Sean Long’s ‘chaos theory’ can improve Luke Gale, Leeds Rhinos and England’s World Cup chances

Given his vast knowledge, having the legendary former Great Britain No7 back in rugby league after a 15-month stint with Harlequins rugby union is a real fillip for the West Yorkshire club.

Long, 44, worked with them briefly at the end of the last campaign but is now two weeks into his first fortnight of pre-season training with the Rhinos and is quickly getting his array of fresh ideas across.

Few are set to benefit from his input as much as Gale, the Leeds scrum-half and captain who hopes to reclaim his England place for the tournament at the end of this year.

For myriad reasons, the former Man of Steel has not represented his country since the 2017 World Cup final defeat to Australia but Long – one of the best scrum-halves of the modern era – is confident he can help him achieve that aim.

Admittedly, things have not got off to a great start; the former Castleford Tigers star tore a pectoral muscle in one of the first training sessions and could be sidelined for ten weeks.

Nevertheless, the start of the Super League season has this week been put back by a fortnight to March 25 due to the pandemic and, subsequently, Long believes the playmaker will be fit to kick-off.

Asked by The Yorkshire Post what the 32-year-old needs to do secure a place in Shaun Wane’s England side – George Williams and Jonny Lomax are perhaps frontrunners for the halves – Long replied: “His game-management is bang on, if I’m honest.

“His talk’s good, he gets the boys around the park, he’s a good general and a good leader; he’s like the quarter-back in the NFL.

“The boys respect him, he’s got high standards and I’m just going to teach him about picking off numbers; not pre-empting his play and playing in a little bit of chaos at times.

“And, when there’s some chaos, playing some ad-lib footy as he’s really good at structured stuff but you need to do both. You need to think outside the box so, for example, thinking when we get an offload what do we now?

“He has all the attributes to play for England in the World Cup. But those are the improvements he can make. As soon as Galey’s good to go I want him on the field with me, even if he can’t do anything just sat with me and seeing it from my eyes.

“What I see pictures-wise, I want him to do it as well. That’s his only improvement really and, with a clean bill of health, I don’t see why he can’t get that shirt.”

Gale did suffer serious injuries in 2018 (kneecap) and 2019 (ruptured Achilles) before moving to Leeds but he returned in style last year, recapturing some of his best form to help his hometown club win the Challenge Cup.

Knowing that Long, one of the most naturally gifted players in Super League history having masterminded so many St Helens victories, is in charge of Rhinos’ attack this term will cheer Leeds fans, too.

He often played with flamboyance and dare as if he did not have a care in the world. Let’s not forget, his finest hour on the international stage was that truly brilliant, mesmeric display for Great Britain in Sydney in 2006 – still the last time the Lions or England defeated Australia.

It is interesting to hear him say he hopes to coach ‘ad lib’ rugby: it sounds like an oxymoron.

But Long insisted: “A lot of it now, with the six-again rule, you can coach it.

“The pictures look different. You can‘t just say ‘one more in for this or that’. We don’t do that.

“This is a group who we want to play from wherever on the field and play a good brand of footy.

“The boys love it and have bought into it; with a lot of the second phase stuff now, you can’t settle for a kick. You have just got to play what you see sometimes and that’s one thing I’ll help Galey out with.”

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise the ball is heavily involved in Leeds’ training so far.

Long explained: “I did 19 pre-seasons as a player. A lot of that was old-school, like running up hills and it was a bit of a beasting.

“When Justin Holbrook came in at my old club (St Helens), we flipped it and started getting loads of skill into them.

“Even in a 15, 20 minute skills session they’d be doing about 300 to 400 passes. That’s what I’ve brought in here and then, regarding the fitness levels, obviously they get a touch-up with Jase (Davidson), the head conditioner, at some point but we are playing a lot of games and it’s really high intensity.

“We’ve seen through the GPS figures that they are getting more out of the games than they would be if they were just running uphills or around a field.

“It has all changed now – well, it has at Leeds – and that’s the way we’re going forward. It’s pointless running up hills if you can’t catch and pass. For me, that’s’the fundamental of the game.”

Which is something Wane echoes; only this week he was reminding the press about how working on core skills remains imperative in the country’s bid to win a first World Cup since Great Britain prospered in 1972.

Gale will hope he gets the nod for that World Cup opener against Samoa on October 23.

If so, Long – who played for England in the 2000 World Cup – will proudly watch on although, ironically, probably from the opposition camp; he has assisted with Samoa in the last two World Cups and is likely to be involved again.

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