You know the drill by now; This week sees the biggest game in Roughnecks history with the NFC 2 Final against the Chester Romans. We sat down with each of the coaches this week to bring you their opinion on where the team stands heading into the game, and how they view the success of the 2018 season so far. Finally for the series we have the team's General Manager, Grant Travis:
Firstly, how are you feeling ahead of Saturday?
Confident. The coaches and players have been putting the work in like they have all season and doing what they can to prepare for Chester. The new culture which has been instilled by the coaches has required everyone to buy into the project and everyone has. From getting to training, into the weight room or watching game film, everyone has bought in and it's changed the atmosphere in the camp.
Are you surprised at how far the team has gone this season?
If you asked me at the start of the year, I’d have said yes. But as the seasons gone on, it’s not as surprising. With the quality of our players and the coaching they’ve received it’s evident they have earned their place in the final. As I said with everyone buying in, they're beginning to reap the rewards for all of the hard work and each and every one of us believe we can go on and win Saturday.
Beyond Saturday, what are your goals for the club in division 1 next season and more long-term?
As always the goal is to keep developing the club, coaches and players. From the club stand point we look to expand the sport in the region which will help when recruiting new players, coaches and sponsors. This in turn allows us to go out and buy new training equipment, upgraded training facilities and more, which all goes hand-in-hand with the improvement of the squad really. The first year coaching staff have been great too, and we are looking to expand it to bring on more coaches who can help develop the players further to prove we belong in division 1 next year and that we can compete with the more established clubs in the country. A youth and junior set-up is also extremely important to the success of the club so implementing these teams are a major priority for the club long term too.
