Bristol
LIAM MIDDLETON PRE-SEASON TALK
Head Coach Liam Middleton
By Ian Todd
July 19 2011
New Head Coach, Liam Middleton, set out his approach to coaching Bristol in the new Championship season.
Liam wanted to update supporters on what Bristol want to achieve in the upcoming season. His approach on becoming head coach was to look for a vision for the club, to determine what we stood for in the context of high performing teams. He treated us to a fine PowerPoint pyramid diagram that reminded me of some business meetings:
With an Academy ranked an impressive fourth in the country he wants Bristol rugby to develop Bristol players – to win – in Bristol fashion – because Bristol is a rugby city with a proud history and passionate supporters.
All this was to be based on a foundation of honesty, humility, discipline and work ethic. Bristol fashion rugby wasn’t just a ‘stick it up the jumper’ approach but was based on entertaining, ball in hand counter-attacking rugby. This foundation supported in a Greek temple type diagram a number of columns showing that the season will be based on fitness (“to be the fittest team in the Championship”), a threat to the opposition, and a number of others that I can’t actually remember.
Lastly he showed this season’s squad of thirty four players plus a few ‘pre-academy’ guys who will probably feature in B & I cup games. The squad may be added to in the course of the season.
Questions were:
Q. Tell us about your background?
A. Born in Zimbabwe
Lived in South Africa coaching at a school
Then to Hartpury as coach, gaining his levels 1 to 4 coaching qualifications
Coach of the Zimbabwe 7’s team
Talent identification with the RFU
Bristol Academy
Head Coach
Q. Are we a full-time team
A. Full time team and training (actually this answer was quite carefully and narrowly phrased, so it might not mean that all players have no other work or that everyone trains every day. Although this may just be me being suspicious)
Q. Dual registered players, how do they benefit us?
A. DR players make financial sense. We can get three players to give additional depth to the squad at marginal cost. However any DR or loan player is a Bristol player who has bought in to the club’s values.
Q. Will the B & I Cup be a priority?
A. No. The focus will be on the Championship, with the Cup primarily used as a development opportunity (although this might change if the season’s situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage). Fighting on two fronts is not a good approach.
Q. What is our strategy for the season?
A. Essentially, to peak for the end of season and the playoffs. At the same time the club needs to get supporters in throughout the course of the season so getting off to a good start is also important! The season will be organised into blocks to try and achieve this difficult feat.
Q. Will we be kicking aimlessly? (I paraphrase slightly)
A. There will be kicking but the aim is to keep ball in hand. A priority is to threaten teams with counter-attacking and sometimes the best way to achieve this is to kick to them and then counter off their return kicks. So sometimes we’ll chase and sometimes not! Although he does understand where the questioner (and many of us) are coming from.
Q. Will players be accessible after matches (and can I take one home)?
A. Players will be in the bars after matches and we will see more of them.
Q. What is the role of the Trust in this? (Well done Humpo for getting this in)
A. The Trust has been critical in the performance of the Academy. It was ranked fourth in the country and this was despite lower levels of funding than Premiership clubs. The Trust has meant we now have four players in the England U18 group and if we want to keep our Academy licence it needs the Trust to continue its funding and work.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:09:03:16:49:21 by SenorJuan.
LM was very open and honest, he and his support team have a lot to prove and will not rest on their laurels IMHO
We may see some early season mistakes as the more open game plan takes shape, but if as supporters we are behind the team and patient I think we will be rewarded.
Two things stood out for me from the talk on Monday.
The first was that we have much more versatility and kicking options all over the park with our squad now (Roberts, Otto, Goodridge) and players who can play more than one key position.
The second was Liam's requirements of DR and loan players, 'If they do not live, play and breathe as Bris players they will be sent back. Josh Ovens was one such example and his early dedication to the cause may well make B@*! fans nervous that he will want to defect.
I have to say I feel quietly optomistic and if we can continue with the 'never say die' approach that won us the B&I cup who knows how we will fare. The standard of our league has also gone up a notch, just look at Esher's progress in the sevens to see how their season has ignited their desire even more and consider how many prem clubs are using the DR system to the max in our league next season. Can you name the likely bottom four for next year easily? I cannot, interesting times.
