Exclusive Interview: Head Coach Whiteoak – Post Scrimmage with the East Kent Mavericks
Sunday March 24th 2024 – Coldhams Common, Cambridge
On Sunday the Cambridgeshire Cats matched up with the East Kent Mavericks for a controlled scrimmage.
A controlled scrimmage can take many forms, however, on Sunday we split the session into two parts. The first being a focused practice, where different position groups matched up and battled and then a 11-on-11 scrimmage.
Both teams showed up to play and in the end, we grabbed some time with the Cats Head Coach, Andy Whiteoak.
1. How do you feel your team performed in today’s scrimmage?
It was great to put everyone through their paces against a real opponent. While it’s been great to train against our own offense or defense: there’s nothing like hitting someone wearing a different coloured jersey to get you ready for the football season. The East Kent Mavericks were a good test and I believe we rose to it. It was a great opportunity to try some new things and add some wrinkles ahead of the 2024 season.
2. Were there any specific areas of the game that you were pleased or concerned about?
It was great to see our defense address some of the challenges that persisted through our 2023 campaign. We looked stout against the run and swarmed to the ball. Playing a scrimmage with a couple of weeks to go before the season starts properly was really useful as it highlighted some areas we still need to work on through the last couple of training sessions.
3. Did any players stand out to you during the scrimmage?
We saw some great work on the ground offensively from new signings, Teddy Pope, Chris Dent and Francisco Santana. They’re all proving great additions that will add dimensions to our offense. Defensively: one player of the many who stood out to me was linebacker, Hayden Whiffen. Hayden has been a member of the Cats on-and-off for a long time as a former youth player and it’s great to see him making the most of his opportunities on the field. He made some great plays in the middle of our defense and showed off his sideline-to-sideline range.
4. What were your main objectives going into this scrimmage and do you feel like they were achieved?
Our goals for the scrimmage were to get players used to how we do things on gameday and how we conduct ourselves when facing a live opponent. We also wanted to use the day as a measuring stick for our readiness for the 2024 season. It was a great success on both counts.
5. How will you use the experience gained from this scrimmage to prepare for the upcoming season?
Having faced a very good team now in a variety of situations on the field: we can see where we have strengths and where we should play to them. The scrimmage also reinforced that the culture we are building as a club puts us in a strong position for success. It was great to see the whole team holding each other accountable, buying in and collaborating to get better and push to cement our place in the Premiership.
Thank you to Coach Whiteoak for his time and you can find the Cats 2024 season schedule below. Please, come and support. You can find us on all social platforms.
