It’s not just rugby fans who use social media to get to know their favourtie players - Brumbies prop Allan Alaalatoa found it a handy away to acquaint himself with some of his new teammates for 2020.
Alaalatoa returned to training with the rest of the Wallabies players at the start of this week but he already had a bit of an idea about some of the new faces who had arrived in Canberra for 2020.
“I was lucky I had Instagram, that's how I first found out and then you're watching the feeds and the training videos that had been sent through online so just seeing how they go via training,” he laughed.
“Nothing means more than meeting them face-to-face, though, and it was good to meet them before today and then just continue to build on that going forward.”
While there has been a number of big names departing the Brumbies at the end of the 2019 season, the front row is as strong as ever.
Alaalatoa, Scott Sio, Folau Fainga’a and James Slipper are among the strongest front row in the Australian Super Rugby teams and the former said they were well aware they’d need to continue their 2019 form into 2020.
“I think the front row, you look at the depth that we have there, there's quite a few number of caps and experience there and I think their natural leadership is going to come out and I think the forward pack is naturally going to be looking to the front row for that leadership,” he said.
“Naming guys like Slips and Scotty and Folau that's just re-signed, I'm sure they're going to bring a lot of leadership which they already have this morning and understanding that the new boys are just going to come in and tap into their heads a bit and more so just expect for them to come back and to demand greatness from the boys.”
Alaalatoa said the chance to train before Christmas would also be a handy opportunity to forge some connections for 2020.
“Obviously the result in the World Cup didn't go our way and that's probably the reason we are back but in terms of looking ahead, it's an exciting time for us at the Brumbies,’ he said.
“It is rare for us to come back before Christmas but it's an opportunity that we haven't had before.
“It's a great time to learn about each other, to build on our family bonds that the boys have been building on over the December period.
“I think we're going to use this opportunity, this one week that we have to get to know each other so come January we can hit the ground running.”
The Brumbies play their only 2020 preseason trial on Thursday January 23 against the Rebels in Albury. Buy tickets here.
