The new Rhys Breen

“I have come back to give myself the opportunity to get myself into the squad, I am fit and I am feeling brilliant since I have come back.”

With two assists in his last two games, shaping a partnership with Kyle Benedictus and confidence inspired by having a player like Chris Hamilton playing in front of him, Rhys Breen has even had team mates commenting ‘you have changed since you came back’. The 22 year old admitted:-

“I kind of shocked myself with that assist, defending is obviously my main job but if I can add that to my game it will help not only myself but the team.”

On Saturday it was Rhys who headed a cross from a corner on the left back across goal for Lewis McCann to net. Then on Tuesday night Rhys sent Kevin O’Hara away down the right to net the Pars fourth in their six goal rout of Forfar.

“I can’t remember the bit before it but it was the hard work side of it. We have been told if we lose the ball to try and win it back as quick as possible. I saw my opportunity and I thought ‘why not’. When I get over that half way line sometimes I think I should panic but with a bit of calmness that I’m not really like, I saw Kevin and I was happy to take the assist.”

A product of the Rangers youth system, Rhys made 22 senior appearances while loaned out to Partick Thistle and Queen of the South in season 2020-21 but last season with the Pars, covid and injury restricted his appearances here to just half the previous season’s tally. After brief partnerships with Mark Connolly, Vytas Gaspuitis and Efe Ambrose last term Rhys is hoping to become a regular alongside new man Kyle Benedictus:-

“He is a cracking big guy and good experience for me. Since he has come in we have formed a right good bond and in the three games that we have played we have conceded no goals. I know it is early doors but that is what we need and have that kind of mindset for the start of the season. If we have that I have no doubt that we will do well.

“Chris Hamilton is a really hard working boy and it makes everybody’s job easier when you have somebody in midfield who can take control of the ball. He is really aggressive around the pitch and he will be a big asset to the team.

“I really enjoyed my break but I made sure I was keeping myself up to date with my training. I have come back and my fitness levels are good. My body fat is something I had to work on from last season but I have come back to give myself the opportunity to get myself into the squad, I am fit and I am feeling brilliant since I have come back.”

Rhys is hoping James McPake’s experiences playing the same position as him will help improve his game:-

“I’m glad that he has that kind of drive towards me. He was a defender and he is really strict on the hard work side of it, everybody is producing that.

“The training sessions don’t get easier but I thrive off that. I love the hard work, the challenge and sometimes it is more the mental side of it more than anything else. You are forcing yourself to keep going in the runs, nobody really likes running but when you get it done and making your times, you feel like a new man.”

James McPake is Rhys’ third manager at Dunfermline but he described the relationship the new gaffer has struck up with all the players as really really good:-

“He speaks away and knows what we want from the season. He has spoken about the tactics and he is slowly bringing them into training. I get along really well with him.”

The squad cannot have helped noticing that days have got harder as the days have gone on but Rhys maintained:-

“We are loving the training, we are loving our football. The standard of training and the standard from the boys is unbelievable. Hopefully we can carry that on and it is only going to get better.

“He is adding small things at every training session. It is early in the season but in the games we have played we have looked solid off the ball. He has spoken about the work rate and if you have that the football will do the talking for itself. The work rate is 100 per cent there and we have given ourselves that opportunity because everybody has come back fit.”

Fitness has certainly been James McPake’s early emphasis and Rhys feels that it has been an advantage to have come back early:-

“I have heard of a lot of teams coming back a couple of weeks after we came back. I was sitting about the house with nothing to do, I felt that there was something missing so being back here getting your gym session done, getting lunch and then back working again. It is brilliant being back into the rhythm of things.

“We have played three games since we came back and I have played 45, 90 and 60 (minutes). In those games because my fitness levels are up, it has made my job a lot easier. We are only three games in but I feel that I have been training a lot and here for three or four months. I cannot wait for the new season to start.”

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