Love looking “to freshen things up” at Raiders

Coach of the Plymouth Raiders, Gavin Love, saw the 2012/13 season interrupted by a rash of injuries, departures and new faces. A year that began with high hopes and championship aspirations ended with the Raiders stumbling to a sixth-place league finish before battling hard in the play-offs but ultimately falling short at the semi-final stage.

UKAmericanSportsFans.com caught up with Coach Love to look back over the ’12/’13 season and discuss what was, what might have been and what the future holds for the Plymouth Raiders.

Looking back at the 2012/13 season, what’s your evaluation of the Raiders season?

“In light of some of the setbacks we had in terms of personnel and the injury problems we had down the stretch, I thought we did a solid job of doing the best we could under the circumstances. I think getting through the first round and beating a solid team like Glasgow back-to-back showed what we were capable of and 20 minutes to go, we were leading the number one team on aggregate and 20 minutes away from Wembley. Unfortunately in the second half, we didn’t play great and things didn’t go our way. Overall I’m not too disappointed by it.”

As the season progressed and various obstacles were overcome, did the goals for the team change?

“You never change your goals in terms of you want to win every game you play. We became weaker in terms of numbers and then injuries impacted that as well. We lost a few games while we were undermanned. We had two guards on the team and both of them had pretty bad injuries and that affects things. But at the end of the day, with three weeks to go, we’re in third place and then we had a lot of games and not enough personnel really and we lost a few on the trot.”

What was the impact of having such a high player-turnover?

“It obviously takes time to get used to guys and things like that. It’s never ideal and it’s something that you don’t really envision and don’t want to happen as a coach but sometimes it’s necessary. And like this season, some of it is out of your control.”

Jeremy Bell was one of the players who left the team with reports suggesting it was for ‘personal reasons’. Could Raiders fans see Bell back on the South Coast next year?

“I don’t close the doors on anything. Myself and Jeremy have a good relationship, still do. I haven’t closed the options. Everything is on the table so I certainly haven’t ruled anything out but we’ll be
looking for a fresh look next season. I can imagine that there’ll be a number of new faces at the Raiders next year. I think we need to freshen things up.”

You recently said that you ‘learnt more this season than you did last year’. What did you learn from the past season?

“I think what I probably meant was: let’s make sure players are happy and make sure that we try and avoid things that…but to be honest with you though, the circumstances were beyond our control anyway so we couldn’t have done anything about it.”

After running with a seven-man rotation for periods last season, do you think you will aim to have a short rotation again for next season?

“We’ll have to see. It really depends on what happens. A bigger squad is something you’d like to have, it’s a luxury. Maybe we’ll be able to do that next season. But like I said, I won’t know what I’m able to do for at least another month, probably.

“It just depends on what the finances are as to what squad you can put together.”

Will you be back with the Raiders next season?

“I have another year left on my contract and I hope to retain a few of these guys as well. Like I’ve said many times, I’ve got goals but goals without planning is like having a wish. Everybody wants to win the league. My goals next year is to win the league but so do the other 11 coaches. It depends on a lot of things like finances.”

Have you had any preliminary discussions with the 2012/13 roster about returning next year?

“I’ve sat down with the majority of the team and spoke about whether there’s a future here or not next year. The feedback is positive and there’s a few guys that haven’t ruled it out and would maybe like to return but at the moment, I’m in no position to offer contracts for next season this early. It’s certainly going to be a few weeks down the line before we understand the position we’re in for next season.”