RUBIN COLWILL:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:48 am
RUBIN COLWILL:
"I am buzzing," the 20-year-old beams. "I found out just before (the announcement). It was getting a bit nervy. I haven’t played much, injuries have kept me out. I was hopeful and it went right down to the wire.
"We were told literally just before the announcement. I don't think they'd put us through that – watching it on TV!"
Colwill, however, showed no such mercy to his own grandparents.
"I let my grandparents watch it on TV," he laughs. "I couldn't let my mother do that. She was a bag of nerves. I just showed her the message I got and she teared up a bit and gave me a big cwtch.
"I had phone calls and FaceTimes with my grandparents afterwards. It was a really good moment. I feel I've been incredibly lucky. To be part of such a great team, to be named in the squad, it’s such a great honour."
Colwill, one of the most talented footballers to come out of Cardiff City's academy in a decade or more, was once a shy, retiring speaker when put up, albeit sporadically, for press duties. However, the Bluebirds playmaker is now a bona fide, full-sized man that we see in front of us.
Indeed, the 10-feet tall quip at the top of this article is not too far away from the actual truth. Colwill recently had yet another growth spurt, one Cardiff interim manager Mark Hudson says has seen the player shoot above him in height.
It's caused more than one problem during his relatively short time as a professional footballer so far, that's for sure. The joints and ligaments have struggled to keep up with his rate of growth and has been the primary reason for so many of the niggling injuries he has endured during his burgeoning career.
"I think I need to stop now!" he jokes when asked about his growth spurts. "I'll have to play basketball or something!
"I've grown a little bit again. It's all part of learning and developing. It's about learning to deal with those things and adapting my game technically and mentally. Let everything settle down and I can kick on then."
Because there was a genuine worry that Colwill would lose his race against time to be fit for the World Cup. His minutes on the pitch have been extremely limited this season. He has started only one match, played 65 minutes for Wales and just 269 for Cardiff.
"Definitely," he says when asked the above question. "Going back to the start of the season, I picked up a hamstring injury in pre-season. I was like, 'Right, obviously this isn't great'.
"I wanted to hit the ground running with Cardiff this season, it was a big year for me and the club in general. We had a lot of new boys coming in here and it was a good chance for us to kick on. Getting that injury, it was always in the back of my mind that the World Cup was coming up.
"Pre-season I had a setback. Slowly built myself into it. Then I started playing, was coming on for 20 or 30 minutes, then I got 35-40 minutes. Then I started against Preston and I really enjoyed it, I couldn't wait to be playing the next week. But the next week I came on against Luton and my knees just weren’t right.
"I went into training the next week and we looked at it and it wasn’t right. I needed time out. I built myself back into it. Went away with Wales, played at home here (against Poland) and I really enjoyed coming on, even though we lost.
"Then picked up a knock in training again. It's been up and down. The closer I got, the more worried I got. The medical staff have been incredible and worked so hard for me. I am really grateful for how much effort they have put into me for this. It was a really big worry.
"But I am really glad to be back and want to stay fit for the rest of the season."
To have such injury struggles when your career is on the precipice of really taking off must be challenging for any young player. While he hasn't been in the professional game long, he says it's the hardest thing he has had to deal with so far.
"At the time it was one of the worst things, struggling with growing when I was in the academy. You always think it will help you in the future, that's how you've got to look at it. Going through that experience before has definitely helped me," he says, now with the benefit of hindsight.
"But you've got to stay calm and relaxed even though I've been frustrated. Since stepping up to the first team, not being able to play has been really frustrating.
"Now I’m raring to go! I’ve been caged up waiting to be let loose! I can’t wait to get on the pitch and get some minutes."
Colwill is a player Wales and Cardiff City fans are rightly excited about. There are very few players as prodigiously talented with the ball at their feet as his age in this country and he will only get better – as long as he stops growing, of course.
Bluebirds supporters have been frustrated by just how little they have seen of him, all things considered, especially last season when he was one of Cardiff's most potent attacking outlets.
Many believe he was Steve Morison's blind spot, for want of a better phrase. The mere utterance of Colwill's name always drew a spiky answer or debate when the former Bluebirds manager was in charge at Cardiff City Stadium.
Get your brilliant 48-page Wales at the World Cup preview special
Fans wanted to see more vim, vigour and creativity in Cardiff's play and they had a ready-made playmaker available to be the architect of it all in Colwill. But he started just 15 Championship games all season and it soon grew to become a constant talking point among fans.
Morison insisted he would treat Colwill in a similar vein to how Manchester City coaxed through Phil Foden, using him sparingly at first but with a view to him being vitally important in the years which followed. Most supporters believed Cardiff didn't have the luxury of time nor squad Man City had and needed arguably their most talented player on the pitch as often as possible.
While Colwill is at pains to state what a privilege it is to play for his boyhood club, it is unsurprising to hear that there were times the frustration seeped through.
"I loved every minute of it, first and foremost," he says. "To play for Cardiff's first team is unbelievable. I think at times I probably wanted to play a bit more than I was playing. But I think that comes with football.
"Sometimes you get things you think you don't deserve and then sometimes you feel you don't get what you deserve. You just have to take it.
"I just put my head down in training and tried to make myself a better player. That's the only thing you can control: How hard you work. That was my thought process last year – obviously at times I was a bit frustrated but that's just how football is. I've had it since I was a kid, sometimes you are in a team and you don't really play, that's just football really.
"I just got on with it. Obviously it was frustrating at times. I enjoyed it. I could have given more. But I could have maybe got a little bit more out of last season if I was given a bit more game time."
A fairly balanced and cogent assessment, I think we can all agree. What matters now is how he moves forward under a new manager.
Mark Hudson has revealed he has accepted the job to become Cardiff's manager until the end of the season, with the interim boss hoping it is all wrapped up by the time they play Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.
Hudson has been far more embracing when hit with the Colwill questions, even if he does afford himself a giggle due to the sheer volume of interest in the player by the Welsh media, but he clearly wants his creator-in-chief to play a far bigger part this season than he did last year, injuries permitting, of course.
"We have had good chats," Colwill says of Hudson. "I had a call this morning, Mark is a really good guy, a really nice guy. Down to earth. You will always get honesty with him.
"I haven't been fit for very long, but he's been great with my injury and we have had great chats. Me and Mark have a good relationship. I just want to get back fit and play under him."
The last topic of conversation surrounds the next Colwill coming through the ranks, younger brother Joel who is gaining a number of admirers among those who regularly watch Cardiff's under-21s.
Joel, 18, was rewarded with a few first-team pre-season appearances and has come on leaps and bounds this term. Many inside and outside the club have earmarked him as one of the more likely players to sprout through the academy and into that senior setup in the not-too-distant future.
"I am buzzing," the 20-year-old beams. "I found out just before (the announcement). It was getting a bit nervy. I haven’t played much, injuries have kept me out. I was hopeful and it went right down to the wire.
"We were told literally just before the announcement. I don't think they'd put us through that – watching it on TV!"
Colwill, however, showed no such mercy to his own grandparents.
"I let my grandparents watch it on TV," he laughs. "I couldn't let my mother do that. She was a bag of nerves. I just showed her the message I got and she teared up a bit and gave me a big cwtch.
"I had phone calls and FaceTimes with my grandparents afterwards. It was a really good moment. I feel I've been incredibly lucky. To be part of such a great team, to be named in the squad, it’s such a great honour."
Colwill, one of the most talented footballers to come out of Cardiff City's academy in a decade or more, was once a shy, retiring speaker when put up, albeit sporadically, for press duties. However, the Bluebirds playmaker is now a bona fide, full-sized man that we see in front of us.
Indeed, the 10-feet tall quip at the top of this article is not too far away from the actual truth. Colwill recently had yet another growth spurt, one Cardiff interim manager Mark Hudson says has seen the player shoot above him in height.
It's caused more than one problem during his relatively short time as a professional footballer so far, that's for sure. The joints and ligaments have struggled to keep up with his rate of growth and has been the primary reason for so many of the niggling injuries he has endured during his burgeoning career.
"I think I need to stop now!" he jokes when asked about his growth spurts. "I'll have to play basketball or something!
"I've grown a little bit again. It's all part of learning and developing. It's about learning to deal with those things and adapting my game technically and mentally. Let everything settle down and I can kick on then."
Because there was a genuine worry that Colwill would lose his race against time to be fit for the World Cup. His minutes on the pitch have been extremely limited this season. He has started only one match, played 65 minutes for Wales and just 269 for Cardiff.
"Definitely," he says when asked the above question. "Going back to the start of the season, I picked up a hamstring injury in pre-season. I was like, 'Right, obviously this isn't great'.
"I wanted to hit the ground running with Cardiff this season, it was a big year for me and the club in general. We had a lot of new boys coming in here and it was a good chance for us to kick on. Getting that injury, it was always in the back of my mind that the World Cup was coming up.
"Pre-season I had a setback. Slowly built myself into it. Then I started playing, was coming on for 20 or 30 minutes, then I got 35-40 minutes. Then I started against Preston and I really enjoyed it, I couldn't wait to be playing the next week. But the next week I came on against Luton and my knees just weren’t right.
"I went into training the next week and we looked at it and it wasn’t right. I needed time out. I built myself back into it. Went away with Wales, played at home here (against Poland) and I really enjoyed coming on, even though we lost.
"Then picked up a knock in training again. It's been up and down. The closer I got, the more worried I got. The medical staff have been incredible and worked so hard for me. I am really grateful for how much effort they have put into me for this. It was a really big worry.
"But I am really glad to be back and want to stay fit for the rest of the season."
To have such injury struggles when your career is on the precipice of really taking off must be challenging for any young player. While he hasn't been in the professional game long, he says it's the hardest thing he has had to deal with so far.
"At the time it was one of the worst things, struggling with growing when I was in the academy. You always think it will help you in the future, that's how you've got to look at it. Going through that experience before has definitely helped me," he says, now with the benefit of hindsight.
"But you've got to stay calm and relaxed even though I've been frustrated. Since stepping up to the first team, not being able to play has been really frustrating.
"Now I’m raring to go! I’ve been caged up waiting to be let loose! I can’t wait to get on the pitch and get some minutes."
Colwill is a player Wales and Cardiff City fans are rightly excited about. There are very few players as prodigiously talented with the ball at their feet as his age in this country and he will only get better – as long as he stops growing, of course.
Bluebirds supporters have been frustrated by just how little they have seen of him, all things considered, especially last season when he was one of Cardiff's most potent attacking outlets.
Many believe he was Steve Morison's blind spot, for want of a better phrase. The mere utterance of Colwill's name always drew a spiky answer or debate when the former Bluebirds manager was in charge at Cardiff City Stadium.
Get your brilliant 48-page Wales at the World Cup preview special
Fans wanted to see more vim, vigour and creativity in Cardiff's play and they had a ready-made playmaker available to be the architect of it all in Colwill. But he started just 15 Championship games all season and it soon grew to become a constant talking point among fans.
Morison insisted he would treat Colwill in a similar vein to how Manchester City coaxed through Phil Foden, using him sparingly at first but with a view to him being vitally important in the years which followed. Most supporters believed Cardiff didn't have the luxury of time nor squad Man City had and needed arguably their most talented player on the pitch as often as possible.
While Colwill is at pains to state what a privilege it is to play for his boyhood club, it is unsurprising to hear that there were times the frustration seeped through.
"I loved every minute of it, first and foremost," he says. "To play for Cardiff's first team is unbelievable. I think at times I probably wanted to play a bit more than I was playing. But I think that comes with football.
"Sometimes you get things you think you don't deserve and then sometimes you feel you don't get what you deserve. You just have to take it.
"I just put my head down in training and tried to make myself a better player. That's the only thing you can control: How hard you work. That was my thought process last year – obviously at times I was a bit frustrated but that's just how football is. I've had it since I was a kid, sometimes you are in a team and you don't really play, that's just football really.
"I just got on with it. Obviously it was frustrating at times. I enjoyed it. I could have given more. But I could have maybe got a little bit more out of last season if I was given a bit more game time."
A fairly balanced and cogent assessment, I think we can all agree. What matters now is how he moves forward under a new manager.
Mark Hudson has revealed he has accepted the job to become Cardiff's manager until the end of the season, with the interim boss hoping it is all wrapped up by the time they play Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.
Hudson has been far more embracing when hit with the Colwill questions, even if he does afford himself a giggle due to the sheer volume of interest in the player by the Welsh media, but he clearly wants his creator-in-chief to play a far bigger part this season than he did last year, injuries permitting, of course.
"We have had good chats," Colwill says of Hudson. "I had a call this morning, Mark is a really good guy, a really nice guy. Down to earth. You will always get honesty with him.
"I haven't been fit for very long, but he's been great with my injury and we have had great chats. Me and Mark have a good relationship. I just want to get back fit and play under him."
The last topic of conversation surrounds the next Colwill coming through the ranks, younger brother Joel who is gaining a number of admirers among those who regularly watch Cardiff's under-21s.
Joel, 18, was rewarded with a few first-team pre-season appearances and has come on leaps and bounds this term. Many inside and outside the club have earmarked him as one of the more likely players to sprout through the academy and into that senior setup in the not-too-distant future.
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Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Sat Nov 12, 2022 6:24 pm
Please. Tell me I’m not alone in this. I don’t get the enthusiasm over Colwill at all and think he’s over rated. He doesn’t even look Championship standard to me. Apart from that one cracking free kick at QPR last season he just makes me feel like I’m waiting for something to happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him to do well, but he leaves me underwhelmed.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him to do well, but he leaves me underwhelmed.
Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Sat Nov 12, 2022 6:38 pm
bluebird58 wrote:Please. Tell me I’m not alone in this. I don’t get the enthusiasm over Colwill at all and think he’s over rated. He doesn’t even look Championship standard to me. Apart from that one cracking free kick at QPR last season he just makes me feel like I’m waiting for something to happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him to do well, but he leaves me underwhelmed.
You're not alone. It seems like a bit "Emperors New Clothes" to me.
There ere some people around me in the Canton on Tuesday who were so busy singing his name that they didn't seem to notice that we had actually gone 3-2 down.
In fairness to the lad there is a massive weight of expectation on his shoulders but so far I agree that there has been little to justify the hype.
We all hope he comes good - just hope that he can fulfill his potential.
Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:09 pm
He needs a run of games with the city to show what he's capable of.
Will be interesting to see how he gets on in the WC - he may get some game time agaomst Iran possibly
Will be interesting to see how he gets on in the WC - he may get some game time agaomst Iran possibly
Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:02 am
Obviously has talent whether we are the club to extract that i am unsure. He is never a wide forward, i have no idea why he was hanging around there and Ojo in the centre.
He will be a decent footballer mid to late twenties when he turns into a striker, I can only see him as a second striker/10 at the moment. As he seems the only natural goal scorer we have, the other makes it look really hard work.
He will be a decent footballer mid to late twenties when he turns into a striker, I can only see him as a second striker/10 at the moment. As he seems the only natural goal scorer we have, the other makes it look really hard work.
Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Sun Nov 13, 2022 9:50 am
bluebird58 wrote:Please. Tell me I’m not alone in this. I don’t get the enthusiasm over Colwill at all and think he’s over rated. He doesn’t even look Championship standard to me. Apart from that one cracking free kick at QPR last season he just makes me feel like I’m waiting for something to happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him to do well, but he leaves me underwhelmed.
Have you forgotten the goals at Forest and against a half decent Liverpool at Anfield !!??
Colwill does have potential and the most exciting thing about him is that he always seems to take the ball on the “half turn” opening up the game for him and the team.
That said, it is only potential at this stage. I was a fan of Morison but I do think he struggled to develop Colwill. He should have been starting many more games at the end of last season but for some reason he wouldn’t do it.
The big question about Colwill is around his physicality. Can his body adapt to the recent growth and also steer clear from some of the niggles he has had ?
Whatever our opinions Hudson and Page clearly rate him. He’s looked good coming on for Wales and I think he’ll get a bit of game time at the WC.
This is a big season for Colwill and even I would recognise that if we’re still having this conversation this time next year then he may struggle to make it. I hope he does and, based on the small amount of times I’ve seen him, I think he will which will be great for club and country.
Re: RUBIN COLWILL:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:10 am
Good Luck To The Lad 