On any injuries among playing pool: A this point nothing more than one or two guys with niggles. Zac Mizell was definitely in contention but unfortunately he's had a flareup with his meniscus, which is an old injury. It's not something that's really serious. He's rehabbing. It's tough for him to go everyday so we told him to take some time to get himself on the mend.
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On selecting himself: It's not that I picked myself it's more of me as a coach being mindful of the guys that we have and the guys that we don't have. When I say the guys that we don't have I mean we have guys in camp right now that are going to develop into great forwards. Unfortunately they're not there yet. I as a coach have to make a decision. I can go 'alright I'm going to throw them out there and figure it out' or I can take a step back and say 'if I give these guys a little more time and give them a development tour.' Now I give these guys a little more time to get used to the lifestyle of a professional, to get used our system, and I can give them a tournament under their belt before I throw them on the World Series. That's the decision we came to. We lost quite a few forwards going into this season. We also have a lot of guys on our depth chart we are waiting to bring in. When all is done we should have 30 guys training with us everyday...(see note)...we waited a couple of days to see if there were a few guys we could push further but unfortunately there weren't.
(Note: Andrew Durutalo is still dealing with some personal issues which hadn't quite settled before it came time for selection. Hawkins and his staff sat down with Durutalo to make sure everyone was on the same page and then did the same for the whole team.)
On the new guys: The new guys that came in are in no way finished products. Even some of our guys who have been around for awhile aren't finished products either. We have to create an environment where we can push the guys who have been around here longer more than previous. The younger guys on the roster right now are about two steps ahead of the other new guys. Look at Brett Thompson last year. We want to emulate the structure that Brett hand but we want to do it in a better manner. We have a lot of Brett Thompson-style players that given four to six months will develop into the type of player that Brett has developed into. They just need to be given that opportunity.
On Shalom Suniula's exclusion from the team: Basically what it came down to is a situation where we really only want to have two "creators," if you want to call them that. In camp currently we have Shalom, Folau (Niua), Tai (Enosa), Mike Te'o and Nate Augspurger. After we came back into camp I said to Tai that he has to take steps to become the number one person or he'll have to find a job somewhere else. He definitely stepped up. Both he and Folau have become the most comfortable in the system that we're running. That's what the decision was made upon. All of the guys will probably tell you at this point that Folau is a step ahead of them. He's playing some of the best rugby he's played in a long time, as we saw with the 15's team in the summer. That said we still want more out of him. Going into selection it was a clean slate. We took at look at who was best with what we are trying to do. Right now it's those two (Enosa and Niua) that are the most comfortable.
On sharing players with Mike Tolkin and the ARC: At the end of the day all it is us wanting to create a better share amongst the 15's and 7's programs. We want to help Mike come in and evaluate the guys and at the same time we want to help Mike develop some talent that he's look at. Mike and I have a job as coaches to win but we also have a job to develop players. Mike and I have a coach each Wednesday to talk about players.
On the team's playing style: We have to be smart about what kind of game we play as the United States. Once we understand how we want to play it's about what players and athletes do we need to fulfill our game plan. That's what we looked at. We sat down and said what kind of game do we want to play. Then we asked how we play that kind of game and then we said to the players that we are going to put them in place in which we think they can excel. Take a guy like Ryan Matyas. He's played a lot of time on the wing but since coming to us he hasn't played on the wing at all. We stuck him at center because that's where we feel he is best suited.
On using only one creator: We're a very abrasive team. We need to thrive in contact. There are certain variables to do that and one of those variables is to have fewer creators. If we have two creators on the field at the same time that's great but ideally we only want one. We want him in the middle of the field creating for the three guys on his left and the three guys on his right.
On using players only in camp: That's where we're moving our program. We need guys in here full time. I believe that's the way we have to build our program. I want a group of 30-35 players in San Diego training basically all day every day. That's the way we're going to get the most out of what we have. When had 15 guys contracted that was fantastic and definitely a step in the right direction but after two years that began to stagnate. The reason why I saw stagnate is you had players 10,11, and 12 competing with players 13, 14, 15. Players 1-9 had to motivate and push themselves. That's not the environment we want. We want guys 1-12 being pushed by 13-24, and then those players being push by 25-35. That will give us versatility and the top form guys on tour."
On what is he looking to get out of Fiji: It's (the tournament) greatly needed. Obviously there are some guys that have played over the summer but there are also some guys that haven't played. For us it's an opportunity for us to go out and throw the ball about, get used to our new patterns, and get used to our new personnel. It gives us a learning curve to make adjustments going into Australia. Generically speaking we as a team always do better the second week than we do the first week.
On pressure to get off to a good start: The situation last year was unknown. For a lot of people it was a shock to find ourselves there. For a lot of guys it was really good. I think that's a great point to drive home at the start of the season. We can't wait to the end of the season to play our best rugby, we have to play our best rugby at the start of the season.
On Make Unufe: Maka has been released from his contract for personal reasons. The door is open for him to return.
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