Hello all,
A few quotes to begin the term of NT manager.
First I'd like to thank everyone for the chance to be managing this team. I have some great vision of what the team can be, and with many club teams going on to the international stage this year, I hope that our national team can follow them as well.
With that said, the road certainly isn't going to be easy. A quick look at many other teams will tell you that we're going to be overmatched in our talent, a lot. We don't have a roster loaded with $100k+ players like many other national teams do and we'll have to use tactics to win, rather than just beating teams based on our raw talent.
The good news is that the future is very bright. We've decided to pass over some long-time NT players like Stephen O'Beolain, David Scanlan and David Mulvilhill for more of our younger players. We've had a great U21 program in the past few years, and the NT should begin getting rewards from that. David Dinan, Shaun Mulligan, Darryl Mailey, Robert Fallon, Elvin Leggit, Chris Clarke and Adam Gray are all newcomers to the team and with 7 new players, the future is certainly good for Ireland. Victor Russell, Christopher O'Conaire, Anto O'Dwyer, Clayton Cullen, Tommy O'Riain and Denis Kenelly are other young players to keep an eye on.
I will continue to update the country on the national team proceedings each week. We had a rough scrimmage loss to Belgium to begin the season, but as we continue to get our bearings, the wins will start coming, and improvement is certain.
I hope to talk to the managers of our young players to discuss training regiments they might have in place. I welcome anyone's advices and opinion to the direction of the National Team next.. this is our whole country's team and everybody should be heard!
Cheers,
Wakes