HENRY Pollock’s profile is soaring but the back row insists he won’t let his outside interests affect his biggest selling point – playing rugby.
He was a VIP guest at Katie Taylor’s farewell fight at Dublin’s Croke Park and partied with Hearn and some of his other clients on a yacht in Cannes in the summer.
The back row has been on the books of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable since March and has been rubbing shoulders with millionaire sportsmen from outside union.
Pollock’s contract saga with Northampton has dragged on and Hearn said his man should be paid a £1m a year, but the 21-year-old insists his eye is on oval ball – and his new support team are keeping it there.
Pollock said: “They have taken so much weight off my shoulders and I can focus on my rugby, which is so important. At the end of the day, everything that comes is just for me playing rugby.
“My mindset into games and into sessions and into my career has changed around that. I’m now more mature so
that I can go and do the corporate stuff and then also come back and still perform at a high level, which is a great balance.
“I’m also confident I can tell them, no, I need a day off or I need to look after my body this week. And they’re so good at hearing that. I can almost let them do their job and I can just hopefully do mine on the pitch.
“I don’t only see Eddie as a manager, I also see him as a mate. We have such a great relationship where I can call him up and talk to him about anything. He’s the best sports promoter in the world. The way that he can give me access to loads of different stuff has been amazing.”
Pollock’s Northampton kick off the defence of their Prem title at home to Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday night as the youngster gets back to the day job.
And he insists the current Northampton squad – minus the likes of George Furbank and James Ramm – cannot call themselves champions, that was in the past.
He added: “You can’t dwell too much in the past – we’re not holders of the Prem anymore. That was last year’s team. And this year we very much got an ambition to be a new team and to hopefully go back and do the same thing we did last year.
“I think last year that squad was champions. This year is a very new squad and we have lost a lot of players. We’ve lost legends of the club, like George Furbank and we’ve got young boys coming through and new boys here. So, I think to call us champions this year would be wrong on those players that were also part of it. Last year was that champions year and this year we’re trying to do the same thing we did last year.”
Pollock would love to extend his contract at Saints but says he is still open to offers from elsewhere, including overseas. His current deal, reported to be worth about £150,000 a year, expires at the end of the campaign.
“Northampton’s been so great to me, I’ve been here my whole career and they’ve made me who I am. For me to stay here would be so special,” said Pollock. “I know it’s not as easy as that and I know there’s lots of moving parts that come into play. I’m very open to new opportunities and I’m very open to exploring that.
“I’m young so I think it’s only right that I assess those options and find the best decision for myself.
“Your career is so short that you look back on yourself and almost regret not exploring new avenues, exploring different things. I think for me, you almost have to be quite selfish in that aspect, think what’s right for you. If that is staying here, then that’s great, I’ll be here for however long. If it’s not, then I’ll be open to new opportunities.”
