Sharpe: Force can make the final
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00
Getting into the Super 14 final is a realistic goal, believes Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe.
The Force skipper got to spend the pre-season with his teammates and couldn't have been more impressed with the work ethic and effort put into everything the club does.
Sharpe told the Western Force website that has no doubt that if success is either wholly or partly determined by how hard the group works and with the effort and detail that goes into everything, then the Force would be guaranteed success.
While that success might not be guaranteed, Sharpe is impressed by the entire squad the Force has been able to put together for the 2010 Super 14 season and would like to think making the finals for the first time in the franchise's fifth season is not beyond their reach.
"I'd love for us to contest finals this year. That's something that would be very good to achieve with this group of guys and certainly if you put work ethic and the amount of work that goes into things, and equate that with success then certainly we'd have a good chance," Sharpe said.
"There's plenty of young talent and gone are the days of having 15 to 18 players who play the whole season for you. Now you need a squad with depth and we are certainly trying to develop with it.
"Particularly with these guys who are very talented, the more experience you can get into them early the better they will be in the long run.
"James O'Connor is the perfect example and he's really starting to control play so you can tell that his experience has helped him, and it will help us as well."
Much of the focus on the Force coming into the season might be on the players gone, particularly Matt Giteau, but with the additions of Brett Sheehan, Mark Bartholomeusz, Sam Harris, Tim Fairbrother, Nic Henderson, Matt Dunning and exciting prospects Ben McCalman, Stefano Hunt and Mitch Inman, Sharpe sees no reason not to like how the Force has shaped up.
"Gits is Gits and he's a great player in his own right, but what we have done is strengthen right across the park, particularly up front in the forward pack," he said.
"Right across the frontrow stocks look good, then we've got a couple of young secondrowers who will be very good and are getting to the point where they can have a real influence on games, and our backrow with the addition of Benny McCalman will get better.
"We've strengthened those areas and then we've got Brett Sheehan who's a different halfback to Josh Valentine, but he will suit what we're trying to do this year a little more."
The combination of coach John Mitchell and Sharpe as captain is now going into its fifth straight season for the Force and the skipper has been impressed with the growth of the coach over that time, and in the additions of Richard Graham and Matt Tink to the coaching staff.
"A big credit must go to John because he's really evolved his coaching over the years and is even getting better than when he first came here," Sharpe told the Force website.
"My hat is off to him because he's done a fantastic job in that area and then this year he's got a guy like Richard Graham who has come in and added different dimensions to the coaching staff. It's very pleasing in that aspect."
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