This is one of those coaching moments that can easily become an afterthought. You pick the team, communicate the squad, and move on to preparing for Saturday. But for the player left out, the next conversation may matter far more than the team announcement itself. The route back needs to be specific. Name what needs to improve, describe what good looks like, and tell the player when you will review it again. This is where CoachCraft helps… Not by replacing that conversation, but by helping coaches follow through on it: - record the feedback, - agree goals, - connect development areas to training, - keep the coaching staff aligned, - and make progress visible to the player. The selection conversation should not end with “not this week.” It should end with “here is what comes next.” I’d be interested to hear how other coaches handle this. What do you actually say to a player when they miss selection?

Clarity does not mean giving players every answer... It means creating enough alignment for players to solve problems together with confidence. During a clarity session at Rugby Club Spakenburg, we used a big screen beside the field to connect our system directly to what the players were experiencing. We worked through short cycles: Pause. Discuss. Adjust. Play again. The system gave us a shared foundation and language, but the players still had to recognise the problem, communicate and find the solution together. That balance is important. Too little structure creates confusion, but too much instruction can remove decision-making and ownership. The screen helped us create a shared picture. The real learning happened when the players turned that picture into action. How do you create alignment in your environment without taking ownership away from your players?

That sounds obvious, but this is where feedback often falls down. We speak to a player after training. We explain what we saw. They nod. Then a week later neither coach nor player can remember exactly what was agreed. The problem is not always the quality of the conversation. It is what happens after it. I have been building the feedback process in CoachCraft around four simple questions: What did I observe? Why does it matter? What should the player focus on next? When will we review it again? From there, coaches can record the feedback, add a video clip, see whether the player has acknowledged it, create a goal from it and return to it later. That gives both coach and player something concrete to work from. For me, that is the important part. Feedback should not live as a comment from Tuesday night. It should become part of the development process. How do you currently make sure feedback actually gets followed up in your environment?

CoachCraft platform, Off-Season training & Pre-season prep, Book launch, short holiday in the Portuguese mountains, CoachCraft, CoachCraft and more of that. We’ve had some new Members join our community, huge welcome, please introduce yourselves - your favorite pastime, coaching role, and whatever you’re busy with now. As for today’s post. We’re on to selection as the next topic. Better selection starts with better collaboration. The new Depth Shed in CoachCraft gives coaching teams one shared space to work through selection together. Coaches can move players between positions, rank them based on readiness and match-day suitability, compare options, and quickly see where cover may be limited. The real value is in the conversation it creates. Instead of selection happening across separate notes, messages and individual opinions, everyone can work from the same picture. More collaboration. More clarity. Better selection decisions. The Depth Shed is now available in the Selection section of the Coaching Portal. Have a look: https://rugbycraft.com/

One of the biggest mistakes we make is assuming players know how to improve. Most don’t. Telling a player to “work on your passing” isn’t development. Helping them create a clear SMART goal, define daily actions, review progress and reflect on outcomes is. Good goal setting develops three things every coach should want: ✅ Accountability – Players own their development instead of relying on reminders. ✅ Self-regulation – Players learn to plan, monitor and evaluate their own progress. ✅ Confidence – Every completed action and measurable improvement becomes evidence that they are getting better. That’s exactly why we built the Goal Setting Guide into the CoachCraft Player Portal. Because great coaching isn’t creating dependent players. It’s developing players who know how to improve themselves. Try the free trial: https://rugbycraft.com/