New Brumbies Head Coach Jake White arrived in Canberra on Friday and has already started working on the 2012 Super Rugby season.
The World Cup winning coach now has seven months to plan for next year, with training sessions scheduled in Sydney and Canberra for the entire off-season.
“It’s been going for a while now, I’ve been unofficially working behind the scenes in recruitment but it’s nice to be in Canberra and to get to see the players face to face,” White said.
“The only thing the players have got to think about is what it felt like not to do well this year … I don’t want to labour too much on what happened this year because its irrelevant – there’s a massive change in personnel and massive change in the way we will play.”
White said he would not rush the last three elements of his recruitment phase and that he was pleased with the way things were progressing.
“It’s the first time the ARU has stipulated 30-man squads with five fringe players, it’s the first time where players are all on an equal footing – some players are going to get released from other franchises and I don’t want to have signed and sealed the whole squad before we know what’s happening in the other squads,” he said.
“You might find that there are some players who are under contract now who aren’t going to be able to renegotiate – that leaves the door open for the Brumbies.
“You’d like to think [the squad will be finalised] sooner rather than later, but at this stage I’m happy with where we are at with the squad.”
Training sessions will continue in both Canberra and Sydney throughout the Super Rugby off season.