Tales from the Members' Bar

Vol. 2 No. 1  Rob Hunter

Introduction

For the new season, there are bound to be a few changes. There are new players to interview - Ben Lewitt has already advised Chris Mayor to be ready with his biscuit.

The Saints' pre-season media session was a bit of a scrum. Three television crews, two local radio teams, the local press, the national press, more cameras than you could shake a stick at and they all wanted the same thing, sorry - people. Form an orderly queue for Jim, Bruce and Carlos.

I was after something different. Having been briefed by my editor, "Phil Hoy on loan to Bedford - get the story!" This was our opportunity to get first-hand knowledge of a loan deal and what it means to a young professional. Unfortunately, Phil was already in a period of intensive familiarisation with his new squad. He was on a pre-season tour with Bedford.

While everybody else was holding out their mobile phones to try to catch Jim's answers to somebody else's questions that the phone had not heard, I made my way over to an old friend, top bloke and increasingly successful coach, Academy Director, Rob Hunter.

Loans

The obvious question when it comes to sending players out on loan is why? Who benefits from the deal? The obvious answer to the latter is that it is a tri-partite arrangement and the magic triangle of win-win-win is the goal. Each loan is considered on its individual merit. In considering the deal from the club's point of view, the players' technical needs have to be met. Apart from anything else, players need game time in a competitive environment. The level of coaching (think: game plan) has to be up to scratch, too.

No part of the loan agreement specifies that a player has to play. He has to be selected on merit for the club to which he is loaned. This season we have already seen two players go to Bedford on loan. Will Harries and Phil Hoy are already training and playing with Bedford in their pre-season programme.

With Rob and his team already racking up the miles on scouting and monitoring missions they can look forward to re-visiting the far flung grounds of National One. Before they put the atlases away they have to enter a whole load of new destinations into the SatNav. Loan deals with Cambridge were mooted at the start of last season but, in our straitened circumstances, never came to pass. This year, in an effort to provide competitive games, some of the senior academy lads will be donning the blood and sand of Grantchester Road in National Two.

The target is to get all players, including academy players, around 24 competitive games in a season. Players out on loan continue to train at Franklins Gardens four days each week and can be used to fulfil Wanderers' fixtures.

The Academy

All this is a far cry from just a few years ago when it seemed that the involvement of academy players and young professionals seemed peripheral at best.

Rob was keen to point out that one of the measures that the England Academy uses to monitor the effectiveness of its licensed academies (such as Saints) is the number of Academy graduates that go on to make five first team appearances in the Premier League. From having one of the lowest scores four years ago, the number of young players that have gone on to play five or more times in the past three-and-a-half years is around fourteen. With a year in National League One where the first team appearances do not count, this is one of the higher scores. Saints Academy is now delivering.

Rob becomes quite animated when we talk about the current academy players and those that have been attached to the club through the England Player Development Group. These are players whose potential has been identified at an early stage. Rob and his team keep an eye on them during their formative years. These are the guys that we often see coming in from the back pitches of a Saturday lunchtime having just played against the EPDG of another Academy.

As they progress, unknown EPDG names appear on the replacements list for a Wanderers match.

Rob is excited about the group of back-row forwards that has signed to the Academy this summer and is looking forward with relish to the groups coming through from the EPDG. Saints are linked with two coaching centres. Former Saints stalwarts - Jon Phillips at Moulton College and Barry Burgess at Bedford School - are integral to the development of young players in the Saints' EPDG.

One of the interesting things that came up in our chat was the importance that Rob attaches to web-sites and forums devoted to the Saints. When he is out and about talking to potential Academy players and their families, it amazes him (and me) to discover that Come on You Saints (.com) features high on the list of sources to research. It turns out that we are the unseen arm of the Saints' recruitment process.

The ‘A' League

With up to five players out on loan and the normal ration of injuries in the squad, I displayed concern that we might not be challenging for the A League title this season. Rob agreed that there are likely to be occasions when we will be weaker than at other times. The policy is for every team we put out to be as competitive as we can be. Players that are out on loan will be available for A League games so perhaps the squad will not be as stretched as some may fear.

Even if we do not reach the highs of last season, Monday nights at Franklin's Gardens will still be occasions not to be missed.

Latest News

Only two Academy players are carrying injuries at the moment. Grant Anderson and Rob Milligan are unlikely to play any part in the pre-season.

And Finally...

Tales from the Members' Bar would not be complete without a random question or two on nothing to do with rugby. For the biscuit aficionados, Rob favours Choco Leibniz. For those that do not know, this is a biscuit that occupies the pricey end of the biscuit aisle in Sainsbury's.

Planning for repeats of meetings made during last season, I added - Marmite: love or hate? Rob is not a fan.

A bite-sized coaching tip? Let the players make decisions.

arw

10.8.2008

picture courtesy Simon Robinson

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