LAST season was a very successful one for us as a club at Northampton Saints, in terms of winning trophies. However, I still believe there is room for improvement. At times last year, we played some very good rugby, but I think there is huge potential within ourselves to strive to be better and more consistent. That is an exciting thing to feel. To know that you can improve and continue to get better, if you put in the right work.
The successes we had last season were amazing experiences, and will never be forgotten by many people.
LAST season was a very successful one for us as a club at Northampton Saints, in terms of winning trophies. However, I still believe there is room for improvement. At times last year, we played some very good rugby, but I think there is huge potential within ourselves to strive to be better and more consistent. That is an exciting thing to feel. To know that you can improve and continue to get better, if you put in the right work.
The successes we had last season were amazing experiences, and will never be forgotten by many people. However, the challenges facing us this year are different to those we faced last time out, and it’s often spoken about that continued success is harder to achieve than simply achieving it on a single occasion.
For me, that is a very logical theory. However, that’s mainly to do with perception. Why should it be harder the second time round? It was hard to achieve the first time, so why has the difficulty supposedly increased? Well, a lot has to do with expectation. For example, the expectation of the supporters of the club, the media, yourself, to name but a few. But for me, these are all intangible. They’re just thoughts.
What we must do is to build on what we achieved and understand what it was that enabled us to give ourselves the opportunity to be successful. Because that’s what we want. The opportunity to do it again and again. There is no guarantee of success this year just because we have done it previously,
To build on what we already achieved, we need to recognise what we are good at, and where we can improve. That obviously starts with our management and filters down through the senior players and onto the rest of the squad as we all work towards our goals. Some of those goals have been fitness and strength related during pre-season training and they are a step up from last year, so we are striving to improve in every area that we can. We know that the competition will be tougher, and each team in the competition will be doing all they can to be better than last season, so we must do the same and more.
One thing is true about having success in sport, and the same will apply to business, is that it leaves you wanting more. The taste of success is far sweeter than the taste of ‘almost but not quite’. But, we must make the sacrifices necessary and put in the right work in order to give ourselves the best possible chance.
