Fleck relies on 'old head' Dobbo
Speaking from the Wilderness where the Cape side has set up their pre-season camp, Fleck added that he was grateful to call on Dobson and his team to assist with getting the players up to speed in the short time they have.
Fleck worked under Dobson at UCT during the early Varsity Cup years before the pair split, with Fleck moving to the Stormers and WP to work under Allister Coetzee while Dobson worked his way up through the junior ranks of the same union.
"The coaching unit has had to knuckle down and get stuck in very quickly but thankfully we have the assistance of John Dobson and his management team. The thinking behind that [having a large group of coaches at camp] is to embark on collective coaching, where we spread the workload. That allows the senior coaches to work on certain areas that needs to get done immediately.
"The experience and expertise of Dobson and his team has really helped us speed up our processing and getting a lot of things done over a short period of time," Fleck said.
In recent years, the Stormers have called Hermanus home during the pre-season, however, management felt that a change of scenery was in order as it aligns with the introduction of a new management team.
"We wanted to come here [the Wilderness] for a change of scenery because we felt it was an ideal chance to do it seeing that we have a new team that is under new management, heading into a new campaign.
"The sole purpose of this camp is to build on what we started in November [2015], with specific focus placed on our conditioning and the way we want to play. It also gives us an opportunity to build on the culture and do some team building. We felt that it's a new era for the Stormers and change is good. The players have embraced that and are excited
"There's been fantastic support from the coaches and players and everyone is keen. I'm really enjoying it [the new role] but the coaching collective and the fact that we have the buy in of the players, has made my job easier," he added.
By Tauriq Ebrahim
@Tauriq365
@rugby365com
