Upping the intensity to get George ready for trial
My introduction to the England set-up back in the early ‘90s came with a lot of input and wisdom from Richard Hill. He was still at Bath in his twilight years at the time and what was so key for me were the pointers he gave me on rapid development – methods which still serve a purpose with regards to skillset today.
The way he trained was to work at the highest level of urgency. He would place his own thought processes under a blitzkrieg to gear his mind towards a greater capacity. In essence, you don’t train in preparation for game-situations, you do so in order to make sure that you can operate at a game’s pace and not allow it to be dictated to you.
That is what George’s programme has turned to over the last few weeks. We are now at a stage where he shifts the way he is wired neurologically, where bad habits are eliminated and we try to construct new traits.
It fills me with excitement. In the first installment of this column, I stated how surprised I was when I was first invited down to Wanstead to watch George and couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t at a higher level – a much higher level.
In the time since, my impression has only grown.
We have broken down the passing and his kicking. That is what I have prioritised in recent months when we meet up every weekend. I have had 15 one-on-one coaching sessions with George now ranging from our time at Wanstead to this project now.
The main thing is to reduce the pick-up time. Every No.9 will race to the ball, and that’s good, but the thing is then how quickly can they release it in their passing action without any risk of turnover or a botched phase.
Some No.9s will pick up the ball and bring it up to their waist before they pass, other No.9s like Aaron Smith are much better with using their shoulders to get the ball away very, very fast, and then you have the type who will take a few steps before picking their pass.
George has the ability to pass the ball off the deck without any kind of backswing and has not much of a pickup, but that all needs to be intensified. It is all well and good doing it at his pace but when you get to the higher level you have to get to a stage where its mechanised and effortless.
That naturally couples with working on his accuracy, as well. He needs to be able to hit targets, which isn’t limited to just hitting the fly-half; he needs to hit their head, hit the left shoulder, the right shoulder, the chest. Whatever the game situation would dictate.
He has probably got a few more months to go before I think it would be the right time for him to go out to a club for them to put him through his paces, and live up to the standard they look for when it comes to putting a solid offer on the table.
The opportunity to get to that standard has been limited, no second guesses as to why, what with there being no grassroots being played at the moment.
But that doesn’t mean
George has been hindered.
The good thing is I have three boys, Charlie is my eldest at 17 and he is with the academy at Saracens, so I have gleaned some of the fitness drills they use for George’s programme and also brought Charlie along to the sessions.
Charlie has been coached by me for years and years, and he has come in and competed with George in one-v-one sessions to get his distribution on point and act as someone to push him.
That is the environment he will be in on trial at a club. But instead of one Charlie, there will be three or four.
The next few months are huge as the summer nears and teams begin to plan their pre-season and fit that around their recruitment. It is an active search to get George to a Championship club to begin with, especially as some are on the brink of the start of a new season.
Overall, it is all coming along really well and I have no doubts that before too long, he will fit in somewhere. It would be great to see him in a rugby game because of the speed he possesses and I know what he has got in him. I just wish I had him when he was 19 or 20, I think he could have played at a very high level indeed.
“We’re now at a stage where he shifts the way he is wired neurologically”