AFTER a busy week of reviews, another season is done and dusted.

I’ve been both sides of the table this week, looking back at things as a coach with Newport RFC and as a player with Newport Gwent Dragons.

It’s always an interesting exercise and reviews are invaluable if you are to move forward and improve as an individual and a team.

It was compared to being like ‘Dragons Den’ by some at Newport but a daunting grilling is not the aim; it’s a two-way process.

It’s never a case of the management just evaluating players and head coach Craig Warlow, forwards coach Ty Morris, conditioning coach Dean Fouache and myself are always looking at how we can improve.

A bit of reflection is always needed to find the best way to move forward and both Newport and the Dragons have got lots of room for improvement, players and coaches, if we are to climb the table next season.

Key to that is also having a good summer and I am very passionate about the off-season being just that; we spent most of the year lifting weights, working on the training pitch, playing and thinking about rugby.

It’s so important to switch off from rugby completely so that you are refreshed mentally and physically when you get back into the environment.

Obviously it’s important to do a little bit of training so that you don’t come back like a ‘soup sandwich’ – you have to be able to hit the ground running to an extent on our return date of towards the end of June.

But getting away from the game is important and I’m looking forward to a holiday in America with friends with sightseeing and 'relaxing' being the main priority … although I may take a trip to ‘Muscle Beach’ even if as a spectator.

There’s also Jason Tovey’s wedding to forward to plus I’m best man for my friend and business partner Richard Davenport, so plenty of fun to be had there also!

The review theme is also appropriate for our work with Life Education Wales and we’ve been talking with schools in the area about how our workshops have gone down with pupils and where we can improve ready for another year working on the Newport One council project.

Just like in rugby, there’s always room for improvement and we look forward to helping more students in the future when it comes to life and employability skills.

When I come back refreshed from a summer off the hard work begins towards making 2016/17 a better one for the Dragons.

Part of the preparations will be a testimonial game against our old friends Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade as part of mine and Ashley Smith’s beneficiary.

Hopefully the fixture in August will be confirmed soon along with a load of events at the ground to coincide with the game.

We’ve also got a gentlemen’s evening at the Parkway Hotel in Cwmbran on Friday, July 22 featuring some famous Wales internationals so keep your eyes peeled to dragonsbeneficiary2016.co.uk See you next season!