By Whaley Shark
July 25 2010

We’re a little short of things to talk about at the moment, with the signings conveyor belt drying up a bit. Even so, warm welcomes to Nic Rouse, Ray Unsworth, Iain Thornley, and thank you to Kristian Ormsby for re-signing. So how do we keep the board ticking along? The Whaley Shark fishes August’s Rugby World out of the bin, and picks a few quotes out of Mike Brewer’s interview. On last season “The club had a few fundamental issues that they needed to address if they were to get out of the quagmire they were in”

On New Zealand rugby “The game over there is not in a good state financially” and the All Blacks “will struggle up front next year”

On his philosophy “I want to change the culture within the club and create a new one. By that, I don’t mean bringing in bits of a Leinster or Scotland or All Black culture, but one that is still Sale”

“We’re going to move away from the systems-based approach. I want us to play with more initiative, more heads-up rugby”

On his timetable for change “It will take three years for me to get the squad that I want….. If I can bring in some new players…. I’m targeting a top six finish this coming season”

On agents “Few agents have the player’s best interests at heart….. this agent is treating the players as a piece of meat”

It is well worth reading the interview in full, so get hold of a copy if you can (hopefully this is enough to keep their copyright lawyers off my back!).

 

And my thoughts- well, working out we had problems last season doesn’t really qualify him for a Nobel Prize though, to be fair, he did pick it up at a point where I was still looking at my half full glass and thinking “mid table could still be on”. New Zealand- don’t care; don’t follow international rugby. Change of culture- well, that’s really at the heart of it. We have been crying out for it, and Mike, who’s clearly not short of self-belief, has staked a lot by making such forthright comments. I wish him the very best of luck. Three years- OK; mid-table mediocrity and some change to our style will do me fine for next season. As for agents- I’ve never knowingly met one