Macclesfield ready for the long haul…
Q&A
Ben Jaycock talks to new Macclesfield director of rugby Matt Coleridge, bottom, about the challenges his newly promoted side will face after being shifted into National Two West rather than their old stomping ground in the North
So, Matt congratulations on the new role how did it come about?
I got the call from our new head coach Rhys Davies to ask if I wanted the director of rugby position, which is a bit unusual, as it’s usually the other way around. My performance analyst work did take it out of me last year having a newborn child, so it’ll be nice to do something different but the call did come as a surprise.
How does the role differ from your previous role of performance analyst?
It’s been different to other years, looking at the financial side of things which I’ve never had to be involved with before. All of a sudden you’re managing a budget and a spreadsheet, and you’re on the phone to the head coach all the time saying ‘can we move this money around?’. It’s been challenging but I think we’re going to be in a good place and can hopefully carry the momentum from the last couple of years into Nat 2 West.
How are preparations going for next season?
It’s been difficult because we’ve been put in the West. There was a bit of conflict with the RFU between us, Lymm and Chester. Chester bit the bullet last year and went into the West but they wanted to put them back in the North. They used Google Maps to determine we were the nearest to the West, even though Chester is clearly further west and south than we are. It’s not ideal but we’ve embraced it, our players are on board and aware. It does stop you signing some players and financially we’ve been a bit more constrained but we’ve kept the core group of what we had last year, minus one or two who have gone to Rossendale as they can offer more money. We’ve brought good players in but have lost our previous head coach Darren Lamon due to work-life balance. Rhys Davies has taken over but commands a lot of respect from the players, he’s taking a step away from playing and the two deputies Ollie Longmore and Tom Morton are still here. Matt Bebbington is another coach we’ve all admired and has come in from Sandbach as a consultant coach.
How much will it mean to lead your side out in the National Leagues for the first time since 2018/19?
Macc sees itself as a National League club and it wasn’t that long ago they were winning Nat 2 North and going up and down between Nat 1 and Nat 2. That’s where a club of this size and its history should be. These lads have been trying the last few years to get there and there have been lots of outside factors which haven’t helped. We were very close when lockdown kicked in, we only had two games to play and if we’d won them we would have been level on points with top of the league. When they based it on points per game during lockdown we missed out by 0.1 per cent, so it’s been a long time coming. The last 18 months have been a whirlwind, they won the Cheshire Cup, won promotion probably against the odds giving the squad Rossdale had. The club is riding a wave and Nat 2 is where the club sees itself.
How will you deal with the extra travel and added costs of being in the West rather than the North?
That’s one of the biggest challenges we have at the moment. Being a DoR you’d think it would be about what goes on on the field but a large part of it is what goes on off the field at the moment. The coaches and I know we can’t roll out the same 20 players every game home and away, so we’re trying to push a real ethos of flexibility. We don’t expect everyone to make every trip, we ask people to do what they can but there’s people like myself who have kids, full-time jobs or a little bit older who do have commitments and won’t want to do that. We’re looking at ways we can break up those journeys to make them easier, what bus company to use to have a bigger space so they can spread their legs out and the sort of timings we can do. I know Chester tried to do a lot of stopovers last year, I don’t know if the budget is going to stretch that far so the lads will have to enjoy and embrace where we are. If we throw our toys out the pram no one is going to do anything. The one thing I’d say about the last 10-12 years I’ve been doing this, you go to the same clubs god knows how many times; Flyde,Preston, Otley, Leicester Lions. It’s going to be interesting going to different places and means more time singing and drinking on the bus.
How much do you know about the other sides in the division?
We don’t know a lot because they are in areas of the country we haven’t competed with before. A few have come down from Nat 1 which we have more knowledge of because of our guys who have been at Sale FC. There’s more out there at this level in terms of video, you can get back on the Elite Hub which is where everyone has to post their games, whereas the last couple years it’s been about borrowing videos and exchanging with other clubs. We’ll be doing our homework but you don’t play the same players every week, so it’s exciting taking on the unknown.
Who should we look out for in your side?
We had 20 plus star players last year, so it’s difficult to answer. We’ll “It’ll be interesting going to new places and spending more time on the bus” always have the big names from the younger group that came through a couple years ago; the Oliver brothers (Harry and James), Harry Harding. Harry Blackwell was our coaches’ and players’ player of the year at full-back and mainly 12. Danny Martin played nearly every minute of every game at scrum-half last year. In the forwards, hooker Ollie Long-more was in the team of the year and is very good in the set-piece. There’s people that didn’t play a lot last year like Josh de Groot who’s a big back five animal and plays so hard he injures himself a lot but I think he gets off the line so quick in defence and hits so hard that he’ll make some players feel uncomfortable. Everywhere we look we’ve got quality, I’m looking forward to seeing our two new back rowers George Boughey and Ben Blackburn, who are energetic big forwards.
What would be the message to other sides in the league?
It’s important we respect the league but don’t show too much respect to teams. If anyone thinks Macc are going to be a pushover, you’ve got a long way to come up to Macclesfield next year and I don’t think we’re going to lie down easily. Our spread of quality across the XV to 20 is going to be really interesting to watch.
