Price proud of former Warrior
ALI Price has commended his ex-Glasgow teammate Matt Smith for speaking out about his mentalhealth problems, believing it will encourage other players to be more open about the difficulties they face.
Smith, who retired earlier this year aged just 23, revealed this week in an interview with the website Rugby Pass that he had had severe depression that had led to thoughts of taking his own life. One factor for Smith was his lack of game time with Glasgow, which left him feeling isolated and redundant. That problem was exacerbated when he moved on loan to Edinburgh, supposedly to get more time on the pitch, but was again sidelined.
Although he counts himself as a friend of the former flanker and, like all players, knows the disappointment of being omitted from a team, Price admitted yesterday that he had not understood how bad things had become for his colleague.
“I didn’t know how he was feeling, and I’d like to say I’ve been pretty close with him now and during lockdown,” the Warriors and Scotland scrumhalf said. “There’s a few of us who live by ourselves, Matt being one, so I got quite close to him during lockdown, but never realised how bad he was struggling when he was playing.
“It is something that any human would struggle with, the disappointment of not being picked, not being able to run around and do what you can do because you’re injured.
“Your friends say, ‘Why are you moaning? You’ve got the dream job’. Well yes, it is if things are going well for you, but every weekend that’s only for 23 guys and we’ve got big squads.
“That’s a lot of people missing out for whatever reason they haven’t been picked, and that is tough. Five or six weeks in a row sat on the sidelines, that’s not the dream job.
“In terms of support it’s something that’s starting to be more aware to players, that we’re able to talk to doctors, to talk to these people, and we shouldn’t be afraid to do that. What Matt said was brilliant, and it’ll make it easier for players feeling a similar way to speak to people.
“If you talk to him now, the weight off his chest ... OK, he might not be doing something he adores now, but he’s in a better place mentally sharing and getting it out there. Nothing but admiration for him over the last couple of months: that’s going to help a lot of people.”
Having been able to do no more than individual training over recent months, Price is now back with the bulk of the Glasgow squad at Scotstoun, and counting down eagerly to the double-header against Edinburgh towards the end of next month.
“It’s good to be back,” he continued. “It was a strange period of time for a few months, but it’s been pretty exciting to get the ball back in the hands and start running around with a few of the boys anyway. This week especially back at Scotstoun has really helped.
“The thing I struggled with [during lockdown] was the lack of routine. Once I got to grips with that, once I got my routine in place, I quite enjoyed it, to be honest. Mentally it was really nice: the pressure every week of being judged for selection, you didn’t have to worry about that with no games. It was hard in some ways but in other ways, mentally and physically for example, it felt great, refreshing.”
The other refreshing element at work these days has been the arrival of head coach Danny Wilson. Dave Rennie’s successor has not made radical changes yet, but there have been subtle alterations which Price thinks will help the team’s overall approach without compromising their attacking instincts.
“Like when Dave came in before, it’s a change of energy. Danny is excited to be back in a head-coaching role,” he said.
“I think there’s been a slight twist in our mentality of how we’re going to play. We always want to stick to our strengths at Glasgow and that’s not going to change in terms of our attack is one of the top two in the league.”