Steve McCormack “really honoured” to lead player welfare for England squads

Drew Darbyshire

Steve McCormack feels “really honoured” to lead player welfare for England ahead of this year’s World Cup.

The former Scotland coach is currently head of welfare at Rugby League Cares and earlier this week achieved the Level 4 Certificate in Elite Athlete Wellbeing – a qualification that only two sports practitioners in the UK have got.

McCormack will now lead on player welfare across all four of England’s senior squads – men’s, women’s, wheelchair and PDRL.

McCormack said: “I know the importance Shaun (Wane) says about being the best on the field but also being good people off it is a big aspect of Shaun and what the England setup is about.

“Player welfare is about players having good careers alongside playing and being good people, good partners and looking after their families etc.

“We are quite lucky as a sport that there are some brilliant player welfare managers at the clubs that do this on a day to day basis with all the players.

“I speak to most players within the performance squad already so I’ll be continuing that really and any form of wellbeing and support that I can offer. It can make a massive difference and I’m really honoured to be on board with it.

“We want to be there for the players and staff if they need anything and research suggests that a player who is flourishing off the field, their performance is better on it.”

England coach Shaun Wane said: “For the first time ever we’ve brought in a player welfare manager in.

“Looking after the players is imperative and Steve is one of only two people in the UK to have got the wellbeing qualification.”

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