The interview is in two parts; the second part, coming up in a couple of days time, is an exclusive chat with Matt where he talks about his season just gone, his future plans, and that Australian jersey. 

All that to come though (and you won't want to miss it).  The first part is the weekly press conference, with questions coming from myself, Nick Purewal of the Evening Chronicle, and Alan Hedley of the Journal.  Also present were the BBC Newcastle radio guys, and the lovely Dawn and her team from Tyne Tees TV.

What's your assessment of the season?  

Inconsistent is probably the word that springs to mind.  We got told the other day that we'd only strung two Premiership games together, in Northampton and Gloucester, a stat I found quite frustrating because we are playing some good rugby, that's the thing.  That's on the first hand, on the second hand I think there's been great development amongst the team, especially in the last six months; I think the guys have really started to understand what we actually want to achieve I suppose, (which) is the biggest thing - understand the squad mentality, understand how we have to play the game in certain situations.  I mean, in previous years, yeah we've had some talent amongst the team, but I think we've been sort of, perhaps, wafting in that direction if you could call it that.   

The squad that we've got in now when guys are rotated, injured, whatever, the guys that are coming in have a clear understanding of what is happening, so I can see a great deal of improvement in the last six months, definitely.  That's a bit of a transition phase I suppose from old coach to new coach, and what he requires skill-wise and what he brings to the team as well, but (it's) certainly a positive note I think.  Inconsistent at the start, but now to more of a positive note - even though we were in, there or thereabouts, a relegation zone, we knew where we were on the table, we were still able to play entertaining rugby, we were still able to play attacking rugby, and (were) not stifled by the fact that other teams were playing this type of rugby, so there's certainly great positives to come out of the year.  I think that the back end of the year, coming into next year is going to hold us in great stead.

Does that promise persuade you to stick around a little longer? 

For one more year - as in to the end of my contract.  I think what I've shown is belief in the ambition of the club.  Since I've been here, what has been done here is completely different to what I've come from, the training wise is probably the biggest thing, and the mental side of things as well, Blackie talking about using your mind to more benefit than perhaps you have done in the past, all the imagery and what have you, and the enthusiasm of the players at the club is outstanding.  I think on top of that now we're actually getting an understanding of how to play the game, (to) understand in certain situations what to do, don't **** yourself at the end of the game when you've just got to pick and drive, pick and drive, pick and drive, with the clock saying a minute to go, pick and drive, thirty seconds to go.  In past games someone’s run it out, penalty, someone's tried to kick it out, charge down... just understanding what there is to do (and) keep calm, I think we're starting to understand exactly what we have to do.   

In terms of next year, we've made great strides in the last six months, as I said before, to get to a point where people take control, and people taking control not for (the) captain, vice captain, the senior players, (but for) the younger guys as well.  One of the things I've said to the guys this year is don't rely on everyone else, you're your own captain, you make the right decision at the right time, which means training wise, off field, playing wise as well.  You're made to fight as you're a professional rugby player because if you turn up not fit, it's going to hinder 14 other guys or 21 other guys, or the 35 guys in the squad.  It's a very tight team that we've got here which is great, and that reflects the way we play sometimes, the camaraderie of what the Falcons do out on the field.

It'd be nice to see that good work carrying on next season possibly in Europe if things work out well... 

Absolutely, I mean that's the one.  A guy (BBC Radio Newcastle) asked the question before "are you playing for pride?", and it's yes and no - no, not really because there are still things to play for, if Europe gets all sorted and there is a seventh spot potentially up for grabs, so we need to play well for ourselves, we need to play well to get that carrot dangling in front of us, and we need to play well for the people that have supported us this year.  You know, there's still lots of things to play for - if you wanted to, bars could be off for the last game of the season and you could not turn up, but I think there's a great motivation to do well this weekend. 

Is it more of a case of building a winning culture, building that mentality, but there's a lot of guys in the squad already got a similar level of experience? 

Yeah definitely, it becomes confidence.  I look at some of the teams at home, the team I played for at home (NSW Waratahs) have lost 11 of the 13 games this year, and it's not because you're bad players, you lose a little bit of confidence; you lose that bit of confidence, you lose a little bit of direction, and you lose the tight games that you were winning, because someone takes a quick tap and runs off when they should have had a shot at goal, that kind of thing - it's like "mate, think about what you have to do".  So apart from the physical side and the playing side, what you're trying to do is to get the guys to think; they turn up and play rugby, ok, perhaps not the most stimulating job going around, but you can make it as stimulating as possible, because there are times when you need to go and watch the video, you need to watch yourselves play, you need to watch the opposition play, analyse lineouts blah blah blah.  People talk about this bloke does this much work at the lineout or at the scrum, backline play, whatever, but you've got to look at these guys, their reputation and what they’ve done, and they've probably played for their national team, and I understand what it takes to get there.   

The mentality of ownership is something that is a big thing, and that ownership then creates the desire to win, I suppose you could call it that, and that desire to win rubs off and you win games; you might win ugly, but that's just a case of winning.  Then you string together a couple of games where you win outstanding, you might win ugly again, and then all of a sudden, it's like a game of golf where you think you've scored crap and you've gone par, par, par; and you think "well, I've chipped well, saved that putt, save that putt.  I always say about the golfers when you play against low handicappers and you go "mate, you must be about the same as me, 5, 6, 7 over", and he says "nah, I'm one under".  You think "how the hell did he do that?"  They make the putts, they win ugly, that's just all part of it, so it's a case of understanding what to do in certain situations now in the game, and we're starting to get that, which is a good thing.  You know, winning lineouts; not throwing to six when all you've got to do is throw to two, catch the ball, drive it forward and secure our ball - not playing the 50-50 around the corner for a back and losing the pill like that, just passing it normally, left to right, right to left, and that generates a level of confidence of enthusiasm and ownership I suppose, and then everyone buys into it, and the crowd buys into it, and you know that you're going into a game, it's not going to be "gee, I hope we're going to win this week" but crossing our fingers; we go out there, we do the work, we know we've done the work, let's execute our play, and we win.

So you're almost halfway there, if you like, with the home games and the crowd and all the rest of it must be quite a big boost to you guys and the tight games you won here you haven't in similar circumstances away from home... 

Yeah, it's about turning up, it doesn't matter if it's a home game or an away game, what I've stressed to the guys this year as well is when we play these away games is that people have such a thing about "these away games" - it's a piece of grass, and they say, for example, "what about the Shed?"; I said, "well, they can't run out and steal the ball and do anything, all they can do is yell at you", and as long as you catch the ball and do your stuff, it doesn't matter  If you then you drop a ball and make an idiot (of yourself), well, it's a spoken word, you can't do anything about it, you just get on and get ready for the next one - it's 15 against 15, it's not 15 against however many people are around the ground there.  Wherever we're playing, whoever we're playing, we execute our style of game, and we'll do well; our style of game is playing fast, recycling the ball, people running with the ball, executing our plays well, and even the games where we've played well, it's probably only 40 minutes of the game we've played well in.  If we stick our game together for 80 minutes, or however long it is the ball's in play for, 27 minutes, 30 minutes, and if we do that, we'd kill it - but it comes back to the mental application.  "What did you drop that ball for?", "Well I was tired", "Mate, we're all tired" - it's the little things that count for the bigger picture. 

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