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Faithful City
Administrator
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Posted: Wednesday Aug 20th, 2008 16:24 |
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Jim Mallinder
Saints boss Jim Mallinder has not ruled out more signings before the start of the Premiership season.
The director of rugby has brought in 12 new players ahead of Northampton's re-entry into the top flight, and Mallinder feels he has pretty much got the squad he wants.
But he admitted he is always on the lookout for players to improve the squad, and with prop Petru Balan's switch to Saints called off after failing a fitness test on his injured back, Mallinder may well want to re-enforce his front row.
When asked if he would be bringing in any more players before Saints' first match back in the Premiership at home to Worcester on September 6, Mallinder said: "Recruitment is an ongoing process and we are always looking for quality players."
And Mallinder added: "These players are the ones I have brought in, so I need to be happy with them, if I'm not then it is a poor do. This squad will continually change over time, hopefully not too much now.
"We have got a number of players who will be with us for at least a couple of years. We are looking to grow this squad, we will be adding one or two to it."
Mallinder has used his contacts at his old club Sale to bring in a number of players.
New signings Chris Mayor, Ben Foden, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Christian Day and Alan Dickens have all played for the Sharks, while head of performance Nick Johnston worked with Mallinder at Edgeley Park as well.
But Mallinder denied he was trying to re-create the spirit and character that helped Sale to the Premiership title and made it one of the top clubs in the country.
Mallinder said: "It is a case of looking at the individual players, seeing what they can offer to the club and how they will fit in.
"I think all the players we have brought will fit in not with the Sale culture, but with the Northampton culture and what we have got and how we can build on that.
"They have got to be hard-working, ambitious and they've got to fit into the team culture that we are trying to create.
"To be that you don't have to be world-class, but if you have got that experience it certainly helps."
So two big issues for me here
He has brought in 12 new players and they will all take time to adjust to each other and the new game plans for the premiership. Many of the other players have no experience of GP rugby.
The 2nd one is "division", by this I mean Mallinder and his Sale cohorts taking over and a feeling of being pushed out from the other players. Remember it does not have to be an actual issue it only has to be perceived by the players and it will affect them.
They have also failed to recruit a vital frontrower.
On the other hand all our players have played at least a year together in the GP, some have played together now for several years. We had our tactics change last season this year it is a matter of evolution and not revolution.
JP
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