St Albans Centurions Pre Season
Update

NATIONAL LEAGUE 3 - PRE SEASON UPDATE

Centurions supremo, Colin Baker is expecting a tough baptism to National league 3 but is leaving nothing to chance and this is reflected in the tough pre season programme he has pulled together. Taking into account the long season ahead, Colin has opted for a very intense but short build up to the season. Training will commence in earnest Wednesday 9th February at Woollams and will continue as per schedule outlined below.

The introduction of two evening friendlies involving the varsity sides Cambridge and Oxford Universities before their big day and other friendlies against Metropolitan Police and one further to be announced later will certainly test the squad and allow coach Baker the chance to see the sort of talent that the club has at its disposal.

The details of the programme will be explained in more details at the PLAYERS PRE SEASON MEETING, Friday 7th January when Colin will headline the meeting, introducing his coaching and support structure for 2005, followed by a Q&A session, and hand out player conditioning programmes. The meeting will be followed by a social and all interested parties are invited to attend. For more info contact gary.tetlow@ntlworld.com

Speaking regarding the season, Colin explained, "Having seen several NL3 games last season I am fully aware of the standard and fully expect that standard to increase in 2005. We need to prepare fully for this but also need to be aware of the demands we are putting on the players. This is the primary reason why I have opted for an intense 6 week lead in to the season involving three session per week, both conditioning and core skills. The opportunity to play friendlies will help us prepare fully for what is ahead and we are expecting to play good quality opposition so we can put the guys through their paces."

Pre season programme February

All training at Woollams commencing 7-30pm prompt

9th February - Training

11th February - Training

16th February - Training

18th February - St Albans Centurions v Oxford University friendly fixture kick off 7-30pm

21st February - Training

23rd February - St Albans Centurions v Cambridge University friendly fixture kick off 7-30pm

25th February - Training

COMINGS AND GOINGS

With the season approaching at a rapid pace player movements both in and out at Centurions are becoming a little clearer. The club received the sad news that club stalwart Scott Drewe would not be returning from Australia in 2005, after spending a illustrious 4 year spell with the club. Scott has had an excellent job offer which he has decided to accept and we wish him our best.

Current player ins and outs

Ins

Chris Jackson, Brad Smith and Allen Wheeler

Outs

Scott Drewe, Jamie Zonta (back to Australia), Andrew Milson (university)

The club are in discussion with several other players based both locally and overseas about joining the club for 2005 and beyond and are expecting to make some exciting announcements regarding the recruitment phase in the very near future.

With the surprise news that the South London Storm club have decided to withdraw from National League 3 with immediate effect, one player the club are sure to be approaching is their former captain and star man Tom Eisenhuth. Tom is currently trying out with the Skolars but coach Baker will certainly be taking a watching brief regarding developments with he flamboyant half.