Saints legend Hartley has his say on Lions star Pollock

Pollock has enjoyed a huge campaign in black, green and gold, earning the Gallagher Premiership breakthrough player of the season prize earlier this week.

He also won the breakthrough award at Saints along with the young player of the year accolade and the try of the season gong for his incredible effort against Sale Sharks in March.

Pollock scored twice on his England debut earlier this year and has earned a British & Irish Lions call-up at the age of just 20 ahead of this summer's tour of Australia.

Hartley has been delighted to witness the rise of a player who he helped to mentor when Pollock was part of the Saints Academy.

And the ex-England hooker says the much talked about flanker is someone he would have relished taking to the field with.

"He brings that energy and enthusiasm," Hartley said. "That's the non-negotiable as a young guy. The one thing you can bring at that age is energy. I think it's something that a lot of people lack.

"He shows that he cares, he shows that he's invested in the game and those around him sort of feed off that energy and I think it's good.

"I’d love to have played with him actually."

Reflecting on working with Pollock a couple of years ago, Hartley said: "I did a season at Stowe, and I was mentoring aspiring sports students. There were four or five mustard players involved with academies and three of them involved with the Saints, including Henry.

"So, I had the pleasure, absolute pleasure of working with a 17, 18-year-old Henry Pollock. He was one of many good rugby players in the first team.

"He was always a very confident personality, which is everything you need to thrive in the environment that he's in.

"In an alpha-male heavy dominant environment, physically you've got to compete, verbally in a changing room to survive, you've got to compete. And it's quite clear when he plays, you can see the character that he is and why he's thriving in the environment that he's in.

"He is a fantastic player, and I think he's going to go from strength to strength."

Like Hartley, Pollock has attracted plenty of media attention.

And Hartley said: "I'm just thinking about my own experiences and how I coped.

"The difference is Henry is actually a quality player! Very athletic, very beautiful. He's scored lots of tries. I think I scored about four tries in my whole career!

"He’s the sort of guy who is big enough and bold enough to know if he's playing that confident, try celebrating, abrasive, in-your-face game, he knows the rules of that game.

"If you put yourself out there, people are going to take shots, whether that's on the field or in the press or social media or even walking down the high street in Sydney (on the Lions tour).

"But I think it's a bit like if you're going to play with fire, you're going to get burned. He knows the game. So far, his story's been ultimately 99.9 per cent positive.

"It's like the press, if you want to read all the good reviews, you've got to read the bad ones as well.

"I'd hate to see him shy away and be authentic. You don't want it to change.

"And I know even myself, when I played and I was concerned about getting carded or sent off or not being at my sort of simmering best, I played within myself.

"I was best when I was on edge, where it could have been a yellow or a red card. And I was emotionally invested in the game. That was just me. And I felt good at that point. And I'd hate to see Henry sort of change what he's doing.

"I went down to Saints before the Castres game and had a brief moment with Henry. As he walked off, he alluded to a metaphorical graph that we used to talk about in terms of where he wanted to be in six months, 12 months and what sort of Henry Pollock he wanted to be. It was quite sweet that he actually remembered something I had spoken to him about."

So what advice would Hartley give Pollock now?

"Just learn, keep developing and learn," said Hartley, who retired in 2019.

"Already he's different from the teenager I worked with. I've seen that he's matured. People might find this hard to believe, but talking to the young man now, he's matured from just being in that professional environment.

"You can see he's matured, which means he's learning, which is good.

"So go there (to Australia). You're surrounded by the best. Go and learn from the experience, grow as a player.

"The other thing is to appreciate it all, which might be hard for him to understand at the moment, because he might not get another one. You can’t take anything for granted.

"He has left school, gone on this upward trajectory and been in a European final, Saints won the Prem last year. Life's pretty good. He doesn't know anything else other than winning really.

"But he can’t just think that this is the norm. Because you can let those things pass you by, and then you might not get another chance."

Pollock has more than taken his chance at Saints this season, scoring 10 tries in just 22 appearances during the campaign just gone.

"There are so many good young players that come through of the same sort of quality as Henry but unfortunately some of them sit behind a current international and you've got to rely on an injury to get your chance," Hartley said.

"Opportunity is the biggest thing for any sort of sportsman.

"Henry's been given an opportunity and he's absolutely stepped up and thrived in those opportunities.

"I look at my own case. Steve Thompson had gone on the Lions tour, and he couldn't play for a month when he returned. I got thrown the shirt. I got the opportunity to play four weeks in a row, and I said that's where I got my break.

"Then internationally in front of me, Steve retired, and I got my chance.

"It’s all about timing. How many fly-halves came through when Jonny Wilkinson or Owen Farrell were in the hot seat. Look at George Ford - he could have been the main man for a decade.

"Henry's got a great opportunity. Saints have highlighted it, given him a go, and he's absolutely thriving in that spot."

Looking ahead to the Lions tour, Hartley said: "He'll have to play his way in (to the Lions team). He's got to earn a bit of credit with Andy Farrell. But you need guys like him on tour to bring the energy to train, to play midweek games, to thrive in that environment. And he might play his way in.

"Andy might change his opinion on him. He might earn it. That’s the thing, he has to earn it. He's not Tom Curry. He's not just going to walk into it."

Dylan Hartley was speaking in an interview with OLBG: https://www.olbg.com/bookmakers/articles/best-bookmakers-for-rugby-betting