Under a typically blazing late spring Queensland afternoon sun, new Reds Coach Ewen McKenzie put his team through their paces. As the afternoon dragged the players started to show the strain of a day that started with a weights session under new conditioning Coach, Damian Marsh, and ended with Marsh barking out times from his stopwatch as the players did sprints.
McKenzie didn’t break any records himself, but he did outline how he has been occupying his time since he took over the Reds.
“I’ve spent a bit of time coming up to speed, there is a lot of people to meet and I’ve spoken to all the players one-on-one, and that will extend to all the club coaches starting tomorrow, and this gives me the chance to make the best plan going forward”
Three things stood out this afternoon, the first was the amount of chat and encouragement between the players, the second was the amount of talent sitting on the sideline and the third was that if Spuddie Holmes hopes to make through a torrid pre-season without a serious heat rash – his newly cultivated beard will have to go.
Established players such as Daniel Braid, Morgs, Ezra Taylor and Sean Hardman didn’t take part in the afternoon session but there was also plenty of young academy talent looking on as well. With a couple of spots up for grabs in the main squad, due to long term injuries to Brando Va’aulu and Charlie Fetoai, there is plenty to play for already this season, even before you factor in the impending arrival of reformed mungo Will Chambers.
It all hints at more changes to a squad that has already been through more than its fair share of upheaval. Even Link himself was feeling the pace of change.
“It’s all happened so quickly, it wasn’t that long ago I was on the other side of the world, so it’s all happened really quickly. They are a good bunch of guys who are very responsive. They seem to handle change, there has been a lot of change in the last month or so but they have taken that on board.
“The good thing is we’ve got a bunch of guys in the Wallabies, and now we’ve got a bunch of good young players coming through, so the dynamics are really interesting. We need to create a competitive environment and I think we’ve got the ingredients for that.”
Despite the all-round feeling of good-will and bonhomie, it seems not everyone at Ballymore is happy with the recent changes.
The resident Magpie population has taken an instant dislike to Link and have been swooping him mercilessly in the last few days. It could be that they see him as an easy target as he has lost a yard or two of pace over the years, and let’s face it, he was never blessed with a decent side-step even in his prime.
Strange thing is though, the Maggies never swooped Phil Mooney
