Looking forward...

Same again?
By Mally (on 28/08/02)
August 28 2002

The close season is finally coming to an end and the new season is virtually upon us, but what does it have in store for Leeds Tykes?

Experts Predictions

If you’ve read the various articles filling the rugby pages of the national newspapers or trawled through the multitude of articles on the web which attempt to predict the outcome of the current season, then you’ll see that the majority of the supposedly expert commentators have played it safe and opted to put Tykes at the bottom of the Zurich Premiership pile.

However a few have bucked the trend and avoided this easy option. The Sunday Telegraph this week predicted that Leeds Tykes would end the season with “mid table respectability”, while others have edged their bets, with lots of ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’, as in maybe if we’re lucky we’ll scrape 11th and avoid the drop.

However I think we, as Tykes fans should ignore the experts, after all these were the same experts who this time last year predicted that London Irish and Sale would both have a poor season! The conclusion I have come to from reading the various articles is that no one has a clue what will happen. Until we get to see our new team play a proper competitive match, we will not know how they will play together. By all accounts the Llanelli match was a good performance but it was still a friendly.

Last season those elusive bonus points didn’t fall our way, and we finished bottom, but what epitomised the Tykes last season was their gutsy and determined team spirit, this coming season that spirit and determination needs to be translated into wins and bonus points.

Next Season

So how will this season be different? The new players will make a huge difference, ask anyone who attended either of the pre-season friendlies, we’ve got real pace in the backs now, as well as Regan and Campbell boosting the pack.

However the biggest difference will be down to experience. Last season the Premiership was a big step up, a new level, the players know what the Premiership is like, something which Phil Davies acknowledges:

“We’re better prepared than last year, we know exactly what we’re going into and the players have been excellent… we’re going to look for constant improvement.”

Davies is keen to avoid the disappointment of last season, he describes the season being good “in total”, but was “disappointed with the way it tailed off & ultimately finished”. By releasing players who were surplus to requirements & then recruiting carefully Tykes hopefully have the squad they need to produce the goods in the coming season.

Callard

However the most important signing of the summer could well turn out to be that of Jon Callard, who has been appointed as the Tykes first team coach. Callard received a lot of criticism of Bath’s mediocre performance last season, so it is certain that he will have a lot to prove. Phil Davies has been looking for a full time assistant for a number of years and it is obvious that he sees Callard’s input as important.

“He’s got some great ideas, it’s tremendous to have somebody full time to work with…. You can chew the fat for a couple of hours, talk about the game, and try to generally improve what we’re trying to do with the club. He’s brought some excellent ideas to the back play as well as to the team play in general.”

Looking forwards...

New players and a new coach, whether they are enough has yet to be seen – the experts may be right and Tykes will finish bottom. But who knows? After all we won more games than Harlequins did last season, and although we finished bottom the final league positions were not resolved until the very last game of the season. This season we’ve a stronger more experienced squad and a Director of Rugby who has just signed a new contract as he feels Tykes still have a lot more they can achieve. With some consistent performances & the gritty determined attitude the team displayed last season Leeds Tykes will not finish at the bottom of the Premiership pile - the only thing that can be predicted with any certainty is that it will be an interesting season!