Whilst my recent experiences tell me that have the opportunity to build a squad is a luxury, and more often than not we as coaches have to work with what we are given, the true disciple in me tells me that you can still build a squad with what you have. The hardest part of building a squad is being able to balance player assessments with the opinions of your coaching team and the desires of your players. It is a very fine balance to weigh up and at the end of the day as a Director of Rugby, your head is the one on the block if it goes wrong, so you have to be able to take all opinions into consideration and then act upon what you think is best for the player and the club. Trusting your gut is almost a paramount requirement these days.
From my own experiences the next hardest job is being able to evaluate your team and appreciate where there are weaknesses and what can be done to fix them. If like me, despite your best efforts and the depth of your black book, you were unable to recruit the players to fill those positions, you then have to look within your squad to see who has the ability. Converting players to specific positions takes time and patience. You have to be able to encourage and support players during the process, they have to know that you back them to deliver and that you understand what you are asking of them.
The first part is evaluating the squad; you need to be able to understand who in the team can do what, what their skills are and what they are comfortable. Sometimes you find players who have been playing out of position, some probably for their whole career, others have the skills to plug the gaps you need filling. Your ability to evaluate players is critical, get it wrong and you could find your decision making comes under question from the players, you could also destroy a players confidence.
The second part is taking on the opinions of others; this needs to be done with a massive pinch of salt, everybody has ideas about certain players behaviours, skills and weaknesses, and you need to be able to see beyond the initial personal opinions and actually get into the detail. Often having that second opinion can either ratify your own thoughts or change them because there is something you have missed or were unaware of.
The final part is talking to the players; and this is almost as important as the other two parts combined because in short you will never convert a player who doesn’t want to be. Sometimes it needs to be a deeper conversation, where you explain to the players what you are seeing in their game that makes you want to move them into a new position. You need to be able to offer them a conversion plan often with timescales and measurements that are both realistic and achievable.
Although I am still in the early part of my career I would like to think that one of my few talents is being able to spot potential in players and give them the belief to pick a position and settle down and learn their trade. Converting players is a slightly harder skill and whilst still at the start of my career I believe that I have been able to help one or two convert successfully. Not every club has the golden ticket and has the ability to recruit the players they want. Sometimes the true skill is being able to do it with the personnel at your disposal.
