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The ball is now in your court, Jack

Guy Branston

FORMER FOOTBALL LEAGUE DEFENDER AND LEICESTER CITY LOANS MANAGER

 

Can Jack Rudoni make the two-division jump from AFC Wimbledon to Huddersfield Town following his £1m summer switch?

You’d be amazed what training every day with better players does. What sports science and extensive support staff does. Technical improvement is almost inevitable.

Of course, mentality is important, too. If a lad is daunted by the calibre of people he’s playing with, he’ll be back in League Two before he knows it. That’s not something you can really spot as a scout. What you can spot is his talent, his movement and everything off the ball. The sum of those things was clearly far greater than League Two, so it was a no-brainer to give him a chance.

Then it’s about how quickly his mind adapts to the speed and quality of training, the standard of the opposition, the demands on him physically and intellectually.

If he thinks ‘I belong here, this is my level, I’m at least as good as these lads’ you’ll see those levels come out in his training.

Successful actions, successful breaks, it’ll all be in the data. As a manager, that then gives you the confidence to play him, and with that comes confidence on the pitch. It’s a virtuous circle. The flip side is that you are inhibited by the level, struggle to express yourself and that, too, will come out in training. From what I’ve seen of Jack, though, that mentality is definitely there and I think he can be a success.

LEAP OF FAITH: Jack Rudoni made the two-division jump from AFC Wimbledon to Huddersfield Town
PICTURE: Alamy

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