Northampton Saints: Phil Dowson reveals ‘great starting point’ in Henry Pollock negotiations and why England star has ‘more in him’
Henry Pollock (left) signed a new deal with Northampton Saints earlier this week
Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson believes Henry Pollock’s desire to remain at Franklin’s Gardens made the contract negotiations easier, with the back-rower now signed onto a long-term deal with the club.
Earlier this week, Pollock put pen to paper on a multi-year contract with the reigning PREM Rugby champions, in a move that brought an end to the highly publicised contract talks between Saints and the back-rower. It also comes amid the backdrop of representative Eddie Hearn claiming Pollock was worth £1 million per year.
The 21-year-old has spent the entirety of his career at the East Midlands outfit after progressing through their academy ranks, and has since made 49 appearances for the club.
‘The appetite was for us to keep him and for him to stay; and that’s a great starting point’
“It’s great for the game that there’s interest and that people are interested in what Henry’s doing; that’s great,” said Saints boss Dowson. “He was great to work with from my point of view.
“Delighted to have one of the best players and young stars of the game commit himself to staying here, and it says a lot about the Saints and English rugby as well.”
Following confirmation of Pollock’s new deal, representative Hearn admitted the forward was only ever interested in remaining at Franklin’s Gardens, even turning down big-money moves in the process, and Dowson felt his desire to stay made the negotiations easier to navigate.
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“If you get into a contract negotiation where the club say they want to keep them and the player says they want to stay, that’s a good contract negotiation to be in,” he said.
“Then obviously you’ve got to get the financials, the term and caveats and all that sort of stuff; it takes time to do that process and also the legal machinations of it; you’ve got to make sure you’re set up for that.
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“But fundamentally, the appetite was for us to keep him and for him to stay; and that’s a great starting point for any negotiations.”
“Eddie’s been excellent,” Dowson continued. “He’s raised the profile of the game and of Henry, and he’s done what an agent is supposed to do by driving as hard a bargain as he could. I’ve got a lot of respect for Eddie and how he goes about (his business), and some of the stuff he said in the media was really pertinent.
“There were elements of the contract which weren’t done by Eddie, which were done by his traditional rugby agent, but there are things from a marketing point of view and the extracurricular stuff that Eddie looks after Henry with. But he wasn’t doing every single negotiation from a rugby point of view.”
With Pollock’s contract talk now over, the back-rower can now focus fully on his on-field exploits ahead of a big season for both club and country, and Dowson believes he can still get better.
“He’s such a freak of an athlete,” he said. “His speed and power are next level and he’s such a good games player.
“The thing I really like about Henry is I can get stuck into him around loads of things about his game, and he’s happy to push back, and the speed at which he learns and adapts is telling. When you put those things together, people who are highly capable, highly ambitious and can learn quickly, that’s a very good combination.
“There’s more in him for sure.”
