IT'S great to be at Keighley,

particularly after the struggle I had finding the ground the ground before the Press Conference on Wednesday.

I wasn't too sure of the best way to get from my home in Castleford to Cougar Park, but with the River Aire running through both towns I had told my wife I could always get a canoe.

In the end I decided to take the scenic route which brought my in via Skipton. It was a superb run out, but took just a bit longer than expected.

The best route as far as I'm concerned it to let the train take the strain. I just hop on a train at Castleford for Leeds, there's a five minute change and then a quiet ride up on the Leeds to Skipton train - it's a lot better than sitting in a traffic jam.

I HAD my first meeting with the players on Wednesday night and it was very constructive indeed.

I told them that although the Cougars are not a Super League club - yet - they would get coached like a Super League team.

Their discipline and attitude to training has to be up to Super League standards and providing they set their own standards at that higher level they will get the rewards when they move up to Super League, either as individuals or as a team.

Training also went well with a number of skill drills and ball drills. The lads struggled a bit with fitness, but that is only to be expected because they didn't have any closed season training.

Fitness is top of my agenda at the moment, but that isn't something which comes overnight.

To be honest I have so much I want to do, but I know I have to take things step by step or I could just end up leaving the team totally confused.

Over the next two to three weeks fans should start to see a difference in the levels of fitness and standards of ball control - those are my short term goals for the next month.

SUNDAY'S game against Leigh will be a big one for the club because the Lancashire side were only just beaten by Wakefield last week - and they will want to beat us just as much as we need to beat them.

I'm selecting a squad of 23 players to work with over the next few days and they have been warned we have one held of a game on our hands.

The thoughts of the Leigh coach will be exactly the same as mine. Although there is a long way to go in the league we can't allow the other clubs to pull too far in front.

I'VE head a lot about the Cougar fans, and got a taste of them in action during the first 50 minutes at Dewsbury last week.

Now I hope a bumper crowd will be at the ground on Sunday, because they will make a big difference if the game is close.

If the players see that the town is behind them they will have to live up to those expectations - the fans can give a big lift as they run out of the tunnel, and keep motivation levels high when things get tough late in a game.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.