Tales from the Members' Bar

Vol.2 No.9 Paul Diggin

Digger was in full cheeky-chappy mode - enjoying life and seeing fun in all sorts of things. Given that, I thought I would nudge him in the direction of some tricky questions. How many teams do we have here? Puzzlement.

I suggested: the GP home team, the EDF team, the Wanderers, the European Cup team, the GP away team... Ah!

Digger came in off his long run! The season is long and hard and a certain amount of squad rotation is needed to keep players fresh and to make sure that the best team takes the field at the weekend. Everything is measured - how much playing time, how much you train, what weights you are lifting. The performance team report on who is fine and dandy and ready for the fray before Jim Mallinder finalises his selection.

The Premiership is a puzzle because the same routines are undertaken, the same information fed back. The players do not lack for confidence (cue: eye-brow, northbound) but somehow we do not achieve our goals away from home.

No selection had been announced for Saturday's game against Bristol - a fact that was conveyed to me as my shorthand was struggling with "Me and Ashton props, Los at hooker." Yeah, right. Although, having Barry the Bear and Wee Tam in the centres was an intriguing prospect.

We have started this competition really well and everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to play every week especially at home with a packed ground. It is noisy and the atmosphere is terrific. With 18 months and more since our last reverse, the confidence of the squad really is high.

What happened last week? What made you think that the little dink over the top was the right play? The answer was stilted. It was prefaced with, "I don't want to criticise referees - their job is difficult." The trouble was that left him few avenues to express what he felt about being bounced by Peter Buxton. Shall we leave it as: Digger did not run into him, he would have taken care of himself more in contact if he had. Buxton knew what he was doing and was prepared to give away the penalty. The chip, if Digger had gathered it, would have beaten eight or nine men stretched out in a line across in front of him. No-one was back.

Heigh-ho! At least Mr Debney got to look at a cracking finish by Leslie Vainikolo.

There have been changes to the squad and in their accommodation arrangements. I can reveal in a ComeOnYouSaints.com exclusive that Hoppers has left Digger. They no longer share. Hoppers has taken up with a (whisper it quietly) woman. One of the most important features as far as Digger is concerned is to do with kitchen duties. Hoppers took the collective conscience with him. So, if Digger fancies a little bit of something not strictly on the diet sheet, there is no guilt trip.

As Digger is no longer the sole standard bearer for local talent, I asked his opinion of the current crop. For some reason our focus stayed on Nick Greenhalgh. Talented, very quick and courageous to the borders of madness were phrases that came up in the conversation. I suppose it was because he was on the bench against Bath and had a good game in the Wanderers at Oxford that there was speculation that he may feature in the next couple of weeks.

Are there any tips for and old hand, (Oi! I'm 23!) who is not amongst the biggest, for tackling large players. He is alright; he will tackle anyone and anything. Speed bump techniques where you run as hard as you can into their knees take a while to perfect. Eventually, he will make more tackles stick and not get bounced off. It sounded like a vote of confidence to me.

One of the essentials in Digger's kitchen is Marmite. He will have it on anything and is particularly fond of crumpets with Marmite.

The bite-sized coaching tip: Go low! Every time! Bring them to the ground!

arw

3.12.2008

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