NLL Insider

A tough stay-at-home defender with an imposing presence and the intelligence to match, the Mammoth’s John Gallant has been an important cog in a Colorado system that’s kept its team near the top of the National Lacrosse League. With a week off to get back on track, the ‘07 All-Star discusses the recent Mammoth downslide, the importance of playing smart, and why you can say whatever you want about him on the internet.

With the trade deadline having recently passed, are you surprised the Mammoth didn’t make many moves?
Not really, we have a very good team and we believe in the players and personnel that we have. We are on a little bit of a down-slope here right now but at one point we were 5-0. We’ve got a veteran team, it’s not like we have a lot of young guys, we have a lot of guys that have experience here and we’re comfortable with the way we’re playing.

I think the one deal that we did make to get another left-handed player to help Dan Carey was a very big move. [Chris] Gill was instrumental in us winning the championship two years ago so I’m sure he’ll do a great job when he gets here.

As a player do you get nervous as that deadline approaches?
I don’t, no. I think maybe when I was a bit younger I might have, but I’ve been around this league a few years now and there’s always that open line of communication — here, anyway — between management and players. They let you know where you stand; they’re very upfront and honest. So I wasn’t nervous, no, and I know many of our players probably weren’t either. Like I said in response to that first question, we’re comfortable with who’s here. If there was going to be anyone leaving it would either be a player who was a bit younger going somewhere to get an opportunity to play, or probably just draft picks going the other way. I get excited actually to see what happens and see if we do get anybody new coming in and what other trades are going on around the league.

What did you think about the big Sanderson-Ratcliff deal?
I found it interesting. I played with Lewis [Ratcliff] in Victoria for the Shamrocks for four years so I know him quite well. That was one of the trades I was shocked at. But management of both teams feel their teams will be better and I know that with Calgary on our side, in our conference, as a defensive player I’m happy that Lewis is no longer in Calgary and we don’t have to face him three times a year and then once in the playoffs. That was one trade I was quite surprised to see.

We hear some mutterings about how the eastern division is so much tougher or more competitive than the west. Do you think that’s a fair thing for people to be saying?
Well, it’s an opinion. You know, the one thing I’ve learned playing in this league and playing at this level is that you can’t read the papers and you can’t read the message boards and you can’t take that stuff to heart. I mean there are strong teams over there, there are strong players, but we were able to win a championship two years ago and Calgary was able to do it before us so it’s not like all the championships are going to eastern conference teams. Obviously there’s a few more teams on that side but I think that the teams we have over here are just as strong.

Like I said, it’s the one thing I kind of learned quickly from playing with some great players when I was younger — who cares what people write on the internet? Who cares what people write in the paper? The only thing that matters is what’s happening in your own dressing room and that’s what you can control. If you can control what’s going on in the dressing room and on the floor then what people write about you will only be positive.

You guys started off 5-0 and have dropped four of your last five and people are starting to go ‘oh my gosh, what’s wrong with the Mammoth?!’ Do you think there is something that’s not quite right or not working, or is your recent record more a product of scheduling or parity?
I think it’s a little bit of both. With the contraction of Boston and then Arizona every team in this league is a good team. Rochester, as of right now, is out of a playoff spot and they’re the defending champions. That’s part of our learning, to understand what it takes to win on any given night. Some of it is scheduling, some of it is other things, but at the end of the day we are a veteran team and we do learn from our mistakes. There’s a lot of new guys on our team and it’s taken a little while to get going and understand what’s happening, we have a new coaching staff as well so I’m confident that by the end of the season we’ll be playing our best lacrosse. And that’s what we want, you know, we don’t want to be playing our best lacrosse at the beginning of the year, we want to be playing our best lacrosse in the last 4-5 games of the year and then carry that into the playoffs.

So right now you guys are neck-and-neck with the San Jose Stealth for first in the west, are you confident that by the end of the season you’ll be on top?
I think you have to be. You can’t shortchange yourself at all, I think you’re lost right from the beginning if you come in with that sort of attitude. If we’re on top or if we’re not, it’s not the biggest concern for us. A lot of the guys that are on this team now were here two years ago when we had to travel to Buffalo to win. Right now we’re focused on playing the best lacrosse that we can and playing it for 60 minutes. If doing that results in us having the best record in the west then that’s fantastic, but if it doesn’t and we end up second, that’s okay. We want to be comfortable in the style of play and quality of play that we have each night.

If you ask around about John Gallant one of the things you keep hearing is that he does not make mistakes. If I were to ask you about John Gallant is that one of the things you’d say?
Ah, you know, I think I make some mistakes! I feel like I’m an intelligent player, a smart player. I’m obviously not the biggest player, especially for my position, and I’m not the fastest player so I really study hard and watch a lot of game film and game tape and study my opponents and try to be as educated as possible going into the game. Once you’re there, no one wants to make mistakes. If physically I’m prepared and mentally I’m prepared then obviously there aren’t as many mistakes as there would be if I wasn’t. But I do make some mistakes! Bob McMahon is quick to point them out when I make them so I know I make some mistakes.

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