Green light for Falcons to push for silverware
ACE CALUM SETS SIGHTS ON GLORY THIS TERM
CALUM Green believes this could be the year Newcastle Falcons end their 13-year wait for a trophy. The towering second row also hopes the Kingston Park club could become the new Exeter Chiefs as they continue to build year on year. After two exciting wins in the AngloWelsh Cup, the Falcons return to league action on Saturday at Wasps. Despite going into the season as second favourites for relegation, Newcastle sit seventh in the Premiership table. But even that is slightly deceptive as they are level on points with fourth-placed Bath and only a point behind Leicester Tigers.
The Falcons have won their first two matches in each of the European Challenge Cup and the Anglo-Welsh Cup to top both groups.
But Green aspires for more and believes the club now has the capability to win silverware for the first time since 2004.
He said: “As a team, we probably want to finish top-six in the Premiership. We finished eighth last year so we want to improve on that.
“In one or both of the cups, we want to make a good run and get to the final then obviously try and pick up some silverware.
“I think that’s what we want to do, the fans would like to see a bit of silverware brought back.
“I’m not sure when we last won something, it’s been a long time, so it would be nice to bring some back.”
Former Leicester and Leeds Carnegie man Green has been a focal figure since arriving at Kingston Park in 2014.
An ever-present this season, he has seen the club progress and calls the current squad the strongest he has played with on Tyneside.
Under Dean Richards and Dave Walder, Newcastle have built incrementally, adding pieces each year rather than resorting to major changes.
While Green wants a top-six finish this year, he believes there is significant potential still to be tapped.
And he sees the current Premiership champions as the model Newcastle can look to replicate.
He said: “I think Exeter are probably the best example. Year on year they improved and finished a couple of places higher than they did the year before and that’s it.
“There are no quick fix unless you’re going to go and spend a lot of money.
“We’re not building that way, we’re building bit by bit and I think that’s a good way of doing it.”
The Falcons’ progress under Richards marks a stark contrast to the years of toil for years before that.
And for Newcastle’s last home league game against Leicester, Kingston Park was sold out for the first time in eight years.
But despite the club’s rise on and off the pitch, Green insists very little has actually changed.
Instead, he feels that consistency and raising collective standards has been key, emphasising the hunger within the group.
He said: “We’ve just grown as a team really.
“If you look at the players we’ve got, they were similar players to what we had two or three years ago. So it’s just been about getting up to speed with the league and then getting to know each other, how we play combinations and just improving our standards year on year.
“I think we’re in a good place and I think we’ve just got to keep continuing that. We can’t think that we’ve done anything because we haven’t so we’ve got to keep going with the progress.”