Steve Wordsworth - the final piece in Kilshaw’s backroom puzzle

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Rochdale Hornets have recruited analyst Steve Wordsworth to their backroom staff.

Wordsworth’s job will be to inform coaching staff of live stats during games and to assist coach Alan Kilshaw with pre and post match analysis, including individual and team video stats. He will also attend training sessions where his video analysis will enable coaches to perform a review of the session both during and afterwards.

Kilshaw believes that Wordsworth is the "final piece in the [backroom] puzzle", having retained Dave Ramsbottom as an assistant coach, appointed Jason Viller and Paul Berry alongside Ramsbottom, and brought in Ryan Gibney as a conditioner.

Kilshaw said: "Steve is the last piece of the jigsaw and he has already had a huge contribution. He will be a valuable asset to the coaching team.”

The two previously worked together in Kilshaw’s days as a coach at amateur side Warrington Wizards, and when asked Wordsworth was keen to link up with him again.

Wordsworth said: “When I played semi-professional I did some player performance work for a few North West Counties football teams.

“Then I worked with Alan at Warrington Wizards, doing some analyst work and covering player performance again and then he asked me to get involved at Rochdale and I jumped at the chance.

“It’s always been something I have been interested in. I worked in financial services for years and I have always got into the detail of how analysts use information, statistics and databases.

“I’ve always loved sport, so to be able to have a day job in sport is ace.”

With the club aiming to be as professional as possible in a semi-professional environment his appointment has reinforced Kilshaw’s plans to do just that.

Wordsworth says he is impressed with the players and coaching staff already, and is happy to be within the Rochdale Hornets environment.

“It’s great just being around the club and seeing how professional they are is really good,” he continued.

“The facilities and the attitude of the players and coaching staff have been great and it’s good to get involved and be part of a team.

“I had seen the work Alan had been doing in Australia and how he was developing teams, and I thought this is something I want to be a part of.

“Spotland is an amazing ground for the club and just being part of that on a day-to-day basis is excellent for me.”

During a game Wordsworth will make a note of the percentage of sets completed, good yardage in their own half, penalty counts and he will also look for times when Hornets are in good field position attacking.

This will be fed to the staff on the touchline and Kilshaw in the stands and also go into the video review session on a Tuesday.

Wordsworth says he feels that it is vital that the players are receiving this information and it will aid their development throughout the season, as well as creating a competitive environment within the group.

He said: “I think it is extremely important; the players need this kind of feedback. All the information from the game on a Sunday goes into a video session on the Tuesday and all the players get individual feedback from the coaches.

“All of my statistics go onto a live sharing platform for all the players to view too. It is good for their development and they can compare themselves against each other as well so it gives them targets and aims for the season.”