Watch Hull FC take on Warrington Wolves in Super League on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports Mix from 7pm
Friday 13 March 2020 00:11, UK
When he takes his seat as a guest in the Sky Sports studio at the KCOM Stadium on Thursday night, Richard Agar will be doing so as someone with a connection to both clubs involved.
Now tasked with overseeing a revival at Leeds Rhinos, Agar spent seven seasons as an assistant and then head coach at Hull FC and worked under Tony Smith as first-team coach at Warrington Wolves for the best part of three years.
But those are only a small part of a coaching career which has spanned all levels and taken the 48-year-old to some of rugby league's grandest stages, both in this country and overseas, since hanging up his boots from playing 17 years ago.
"I'd been in the game a long time at all levels and I've always had a strong interest in it from every angle, so it was a natural progression for me," Agar told Sky Sports.
"I was lucky enough at both Hull and Warrington to experience some highs and experience some tough periods too, so I know what it's like for both coaches on both sides of the coin."
Even before he called time on a decade-long professional career as a stand-off with the likes of Dewsbury Rams, Widnes Vikings and Featherstone Rovers, Agar had been gaining coaching experience with amateur club Featherstone Lions and the England Students team.
It was York City Knights chief executive Steve Ferres who gave him his first opportunity at professional level in 2003, with the Pontefract native taking over from Paul Broadbent, who had been in charge for the first year following the club being resurrected from financial oblivion.
Highlights of his two seasons in charge included York reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, losing to Super League side Huddersfield Giants, and qualify for the National League Two play-offs two years running.
But it was the lessons learnt from Ferres on building a team, and managing budgets and the salary cap, not to mention the simple things he picked up himself like organising training sessions and man-management, which stood him in good stead for the rest of his career.
"You probably thought you were doing all right at the time, but you probably look back now and cringe at some of the stuff you were doing," Agar said.
"I guess one aspect of it I can always say is the fact I spent some time coaching in the amateur and student game, you probably made some mistakes there and you worked out very quickly and realised you were making them long before the players did coaching at that level.
You probably thought you were doing all right at the time, but you probably look back now and cringe at some of the stuff you were doing
"To be able to cut your teeth in a less-harsh environment where everything you say is not under scrutiny and every decision you made isn't magnified was probably really crucial for me."
Agar's achievements at the City Knights earned him a move to Super League with Hull as part of John Kear's coaching staff, with the first season seeing the Black and Whites lift the Challenge Cup following a thrilling 25-24 win over Leeds Rhinos at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
A poor start to the following season led to Kear departing though, with Agar being thrust into a caretaker head coach role for four matches prior to Peter Sharp being appointed.
The arrival of Sharp culminated in an incredible winning run which took Hull all the way to the 2006 Super League Grand Final, only for them to run into the all-conquering St Helens side of the era.
But although that success was not sustained and Sharp too lost his job in 2008, Agar has fond memories of those times and remains firm friends with the Australian.
"I still speak to him on a weekly basis and it's a long time ago now, but I remember the sense of accomplishment when we beat Bradford at home to make it to the Grand Final," Agar said.
"He was wonderful company and a great rugby league man, and we went on a real crest of a wave for that season which culminated in a Grand Final."
Having served his apprenticeship under the two previous head coaches, Agar was handed the top job after Sharp left and steered Hull to another Challenge Cup final appearance in 2008 - only to finish runners-up to St Helens again.
Being able to experience success in Hull makes it a truly memorable place to accomplish some achievements there
"I also experienced the other side, and I think most coaches have, where it's a very tough place when things aren't going so well," Agar, who left in 2011 and joined Wakefield Trinity, said.
"But in terms of being able to experience success in Hull makes it a truly memorable place to accomplish some achievements there."
Agar laughs at the mention of his time as France head coach, where the off-the-field politics of the sport across the Channel can dominate just as much as what happens on the pitch.
"I can laugh at it now, but the cultural differences are just enormous," Agar said. However, the memories of reaching the 2013 Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals and playing in front of big crowds in places like Avignon and Perpignan far outweigh the negatives.
"In hindsight, it may well have been a good idea just to do the job for the World Cup, but we had such a great rapport with the players and staff," Agar said. "The people of France were great to us and it was a truly great experience.
"I can just remember the sense of pride in the first Test where we beat Papua New Guinea at Craven Park, which pretty much assured us of getting to the quarter-finals of the World Cup - I was feeling very proud to be French that night!"
Experiencing a different rugby league culture has served Agar well too and he made his best efforts to learn the language, even if that did not quite extend as far as being able to speak it in a sporting sense.
"I had French lessons and drew on the French lessons I had at school," Agar said. "I didn't quite manage to deliver a review or previews, but socially we tried our best to get by with the boys which I think they appreciated."
After leaving Warrington around the time of Tony Smith's departure in 2017, Agar seized the opportunity to head to Australia with NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons to take up a job overseeing high performance outside of the first-grade set-up.
Family reasons saw him return to these shores with Leeds as head of player and coaching development in time for last season, yet the departure of David Furner after just six months as head coach saw Agar unexpectedly back on the front line in an interim position.
That later saw him handed the job permanently after steering the Rhinos away from relegation, but even now Agar is still adding to his knowledge base while drawing on the lessons from those early years in coaching.
"I think you learn from every experience," Agar said. "I can go right back to York and every club, whether it be good or bad, you're constantly increasing your knowledge.
"But 17 years down the line, you accumulate those experiences in a vastly different position to what you were then."
