Pottsy and me go back a pretty long way from the days I was a just a whipper-snapper at St George Dragons and he was captain.

Then, when I was head coach at the Dragons, he was in charge of the reserve grade side and did an excellent job.

Their performances were always strong and when one of his players was promoted to the first team you always knew they would be very well prepared.

I wasn’t in the least bit surprised, therefore, that he went on to do such a successful job in his first head coaching role at Catalans Dragons.

I think it’s safe to assume no-one really expected him to take Catalans to third in Super League last season.

And I’m glad to say I did use his experience in France to our advantage last weekend.

We have stayed in touch over the years, and last week I asked him if he had any advice for how to play his former club.

One thing he told me was the direction in which the wind blows and the fact it can get stronger in the second half.

Therefore, he told me which way to play in the opening half if we had the choice.

Fortunately, we did, I took Pottsy’s advice and it obviously paid off.

So, first thing Monday morning, I rang him up to thank him for the highly valuable information.

But, given the fact we face each other on Sunday, that’s about as far as the conversation went.

And I’m afraid he’s going to be extremely disappointed if he thinks I’m going to be paying him back with any on-field help this weekend!