Second year pro Patrick Brough on pre-season and feeling confident
Second year professional Patrick Brough took a few moments out of the Family Fun Day on Sunday to talk to us about pre-season and his thoughts on the friendly fixtures so far.
Speaking first about the Fun Day, he said: “I think it’s always good to give the fans a chance to come down and watch the training session, and things like that. I think it’s good for the club that we then get to meet them and talk to them up close.
“Being a local lad I see a lot of people I know and they always want to have a chat about what’s going on. They all hope that you’re going to do well, so that’s good.”
“Pre-season has been hard but you do expect that,” he told us. “You know there’s going to be a lot of running but that’s something you’ve got to do so that you’re as fit as possible for the first game.
“I’m feeling really good even though I think everyone always feels tired after a run of games like we’ve just had. The good thing is that it’s given me some pitch time.
“I played a half on Tuesday, and again on Thursday, and that went up to about 50 minutes at Penrith. That helps to build up proper match fitness and it gets you going again.
“We’ve got real competition for places now and I think all that does is make everyone train and work harder. You know that if you do have a bad game there’s always someone waiting to take your position.
“That means you have to work hard to get there in the first place, and then you need to stay there. We’ve made some good signings and I’m sure they’ll all be good additions.”
“The manager hasn’t spoken too much about what he wants to see from me yet, other than to say he wants us all to do things right and to be professional at all times,” he commented. “I feel a lot more confident coming into my second season.
“I hadn’t played a game last year but, even though I’m still a young lad, I have the experience of 30 games under my belt now. Your knowledge and game intelligence grows from that so it does give you more confidence.”
And on his appearances over the last three games, he said: “I was pleased with the quality of delivery I managed at Penrith.
“I had a couple of crosses that were mishit on Tuesday and Thursday, but that comes from not having played for a while. It was nice to see I hadn’t lost it completely when it came to Saturday afternoon. It’s all about getting back into it and staking a claim.
“Hopefully I’ll keep that up when we play the next three games in a few weeks time.”
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