Matt Everard gives his mid-season review

Warriors head coach Matt Everard sat down with us to give a mid-season review – looking back, looking forward and much more.

Read every word below or listen to the chat on YouTube.

Worcester Warriors: Just looking back at the first half of the season, first of all, how proud are you of the growth of this team?

Matt Everard: Yeah, like you said, very proud of the group, the players, the staff, I think, you know, we met really as a group, as people for the first time less than six months ago, and how hard everyone has worked when the players, through to the staff, through to the support team, to get tight, care about each other, create an environment that we come in and we really enjoy what we do.

I'm absolutely loving it from a personal perspective and working with the people I do every day and then working really, really hard to improve, both as a group and as individuals, so really, really proud of the group, their effort, their buy-in and enjoyment of being a part of the club and this amazing unique new project that we're on.

WW: What learnings can you take from the first half of the season, having played every team?

ME: It’s not that I already didn't know it because I played in the league for four years and I know how good a league it is, you know, it's just really competitive, very very good teams, they've been together for a long time, you know, some really good players, very well coached, and you know, it's a tough league, it really is, with high quality teams.

You look at the Ealing team that we played a couple of weeks ago, they're a Premiership outfit, in my opinion, from the resource they have to the players they have to the very good coaching and they've also been in the league for a really long time and they know it well and I thought that was a brilliant, probably spectacle around what the Champ can produce with regards to two teams really going at it and bringing an entertaining game for a big crowd and having Clubber involved has really helped the league grow as well.

So no, it's been a really exciting first half of the season, and there are some really exciting, like key areas we want to improve.

WW: Any highlights from the first half of the season?

ME: Do you know what? I think day one was pretty special, something I definitely won't forget.

When we all met the first time here at Sixways, I thought I'd had a good amount of time sat by myself in an office trying to recruit a team, a management team. Then, when we actually all physically got together, it was pretty emotional if I’m honest, knowing this is going to be a pretty special journey we're going on. It's a long-term project, and getting to that day one point where everyone is physically in the building was special.

I think Bath at home here on that Friday night was special, just seeing the fans fill Sixways again. Cov was special, the first competitive game.

There’s been loads of highlights mate, loads of highlights. Like I said, I'm really enjoying it every day.

WW: Looking ahead to the second-half of the season, how excited are you to build on what’s been growing within the Warriors project?

ME: Yeah, really excited. As long as we keep coming with a mindset of, you know, we want to improve every day, we want it to be the most enjoyable experience for players and staff and fans and be really clear on what we're about, how we want to play, being hard to beat, and then just keep improving.

Like I said, some clear key areas we need to improve in from the first half, and the lads have worked really hard in the last few training weeks to improve in those areas.

WW: You mentioned support staff earlier, obviously Josh Bassett returned from injury against Ealing, how proud are you of the medical team with the work they’ve done with rehabbers like Josh, and what’s the current situation like with injuries?

ME: Yeah, very proud, you know, Jamie, Lucy, Ella, Fi, our medical team are absolutely brilliant and have done a fantastic job with those kind of long-term players that have picked up injuries and missed that first-half the season.

Having Josh Bassett back for the Ealing game was brilliant, just him as a person in and around the place. I know he's not played, but he's been pretty integral to the way we want to be, a pretty special bloke if I’m honest and a very, very talented player.

Siva (Naulago) is now fit and available, Archie Vanes is now fit and available, Fraser Balmain is fit and available.

Players like Come Joussain, with the Premiership and European experience he has, he's not too far off. Matt Rogerson he's a few weeks away, but he's making really, really good progressions

So I'm sure I've missed a few in there as well, but, you know, they've done an absolutely fantastic job, so have the players as well, still being a massive part of what we're about without being able to play a minute on the pitch for some of them.

WW: You mentioned the fans filling out Sixways, they’ve followed us home and away, but how special does it make a matchday when you see the packed out stands here at Sixway,s but also down at Ealing and everywhere we’ve been so far this season?

ME: Yeah, brilliant. I think we're very grateful of the fans. It's something we speak about a lot, on a daily basis, how fortunate we are to have such amazing fans. Like you said, from sold out however many times we’ve sold out Sixways and how amazing that is for our kind of first few weeks back.

And again, like the away fans, it's interesting because you speak to the coaches from the other teams and they appreciate and enjoy the away fans so much as well, because it brings so much to their club.

So I think it's brilliant for the whole league and definitely for our players and our team, and we're very grateful personally, myself as well.  And they're probably thankful to the players as well, I think they've connected with fans really well.

If you look at what Chris Holland has done with opening the pitch up at the end of the game, so we can actually personally have conversations with our fans. It's not just us on the pitch, them sat in the seats, but we're actually face to face talking, getting to know them and their experiences and their passion around the club.

I think we've created something pretty special between the playing group and the fanbase.