Ali Price said he felt he’d got close to Matt Smith during the lockdown but was surprised at the depth of the flanker’s depression before he quit the game at just 23.
The Scotland scrum-half’s natural gregarious character meant he sought out other “singles” in the squad including Smith, who confessed to the Rugby Pass website this week that he often felt suicidal during his time with Glasgow at his failure to see his career progress.
The former Scotland Under-20 openside, once one of Scotland’s top prospects, walked away from the game at the end of his contract last month, and expressed how his embarrassment and wish to hide his chronic depression from coaches meant he felt he couldn’t seek help.
“The few of us who live by ourselves, Matt being one, were in contact during lockdown and I felt I got pretty close to him, but I was never aware how badly he was struggling,” said Price.
“It is something any human would struggle with, this being the dream job and in many ways it is, but only if you’re in the 23 being picked every week. Nobody comes in to this job just to watch.
“I’ve nothing but admiration for the way he’s got it out there. In terms of support it’s something that’s the players are more aware of, that we’re able to talk to doctors and we shouldn’t be afraid to do that.
“What Matt said will make it easier for players feeling a similar way to speak to people. If you talk to him now, the weight off him is clear. He’s in a better place mentally sharing and getting it out there.”
Price agreed that the fledgling players’ union in Scotland needed to take a major role in mental health, adding it that is was “high on our list of priorities”.
“I’ve personally not used the psychologist or doctor they brought in about a year ago, but it is something that people are a lot more aware of,” he added.
Price himself admitted to struggling with the lack of routine at the start of the lockdown – “usually we’re given everything we need to do and where we need to be at the start of every week” – but eventually got to grips with it.
“Once I got my own routine sorted out I enjoyed it,” he said. “Mentally it was really nice not being judged every week for selection. It was hard in some ways but in other ways, mentally and physically, it was quite refreshing.”
However he’s happy to back in camp at Scotstoun as new head coach Danny Wilson starts to make his mark on the squad.
“I think there’s been a slight twist in our mentality of how we’re going to play,” he said. “We’ll always stick to our strengths at Glasgow and that’s not going to change, our attack is usually one of the top two in the league.
“It’s just a third of the tries we conceded last year came off our own turnovers, and generally turnovers come from overplaying against good opposition or in tough conditions. I think a mindset around being the team that forces mistakes from the opposition in the right areas of the field will definitely be something that we’re looking to change a little bit.”
And although there has been a significant turnover of personnel with retirements and departures, the core group of Warriors remains the same, he pointed out.
“A lot of us remain from the leadership group from the previous year or two – I’m in there, Ryan Wilson, Fraser Brown, Pete Horne, Sam Johnson and Adam (Hastings) Tommy was in it last year are still here.
“We’ve been in two separate groups so far, on Monday when we’re all together as a squad for the first time we’ll start to get an idea of what it’s going to look like for the season.”
