St Helens have appointed former Great Britain hooker Keiron Cunningham as head coach to replace outgoing Australian Nathan Brown at the newly-crowned Super League champions.
Cunningham says Wigan boss Shaun Wane was among the first to congratulate him on his appointment.
The two were arch rivals nine days ago when Saints beat the Warriors 14-6 in a grand final marred by the dismissal of Ben Flower for punching Lance Hohaia, but Cunningham revealed the friendship which exists between the two former players.
"I didn't know I had that many friends," said Cunningham, who has been promoted from the role of assistant to succeed Brown.
"Shaun Wane was on the phone before the press conference. Shaun is a really good friend of mine.
"(Castleford coach) Daryl Powell has also been on. He's another good English coach and it's good to have a good crop of English coaches coming through."
The appointment of the 37-year-old, on a two-year deal, leaves just two overseas coaches in charge of the 12 Super League clubs - Warrington's former England boss Tony Smith, who has British citizenship, and Wakefield's James Webster, who at 35 is the youngest head coach in the top flight.
Cunningham, who insists he is ready for the role, was the logical choice to take over from Brown, who stepped down after the grand final in order to take his young family home to Australia.
Cunningham is confident of a smooth transition, having helped Brown reshape the squad over the last two years and played a key role in the signing of former NRL duo Travis Burns and Atelea Vea for next season.
"I look upon Burnsy as my first signing because I had quite a big influence in getting Travis in," Cunningham said of the feisty playmaker.
"He was my number one man."
Cunningham is the club's second British head coach in the history of Super League.
Ellery Hanley held the post from 1998 to 2000 in between spells by Australians Shaun McRae, Ian Millward, Daniel Anderson, Mick Potter and Simmons.
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