Speaker 1: How are you doing?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Rugby League Coach Podcast, Episode two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty seven. We are in season four. My name
Speaker 2: is Lee Addison. I am the owner of Rugby League
Speaker 2: Coach Rugby League Coach dot com. But are you the
Speaker 2: biggest online rugby league coaching resource in the world. I'm
Speaker 2: a coach mentor, coach educator, coach consultant, and I'm also
Speaker 2: the author of Rugby League Coach, Thirteen Game Changing Conversations
Speaker 2: to Transform Your Coaching and I'm actually going to read
Speaker 2: you two small segments from it today. Be story time
Speaker 2: from Lee. I'm going to do that straight away. I'm
Speaker 2: a big consumer of water, and my water is sponsored
Speaker 2: by the Global League Network and you can find them
Speaker 2: on Global League Dot Network. That's Global League Dot Network. Okay,
Speaker 2: I've picked out two little bits from the book for you.
Speaker 2: I have something at the start called thirteen Things Coaches
Speaker 2: Do Wrong, and then I have thirteen chapters which are
Speaker 2: designed to make coaches better. So I hope you see
Speaker 2: the irony in that thirteen things that coaches do wrong
Speaker 2: and thirteen things we want them to do right thirteen
Speaker 2: versus thirteen. Number eight of my thirteen things is treating,
Speaker 2: conditioning and ballwork has two separate things, and I write
Speaker 2: anyone who has been involved with rugby league for a
Speaker 2: significant enough amount of time will realize that many training
Speaker 2: sessions over the years have been separated into fitness or
Speaker 2: conditioning work and then ballwork. This invariably involves players being
Speaker 2: asked to warm up and then partake in anything between
Speaker 2: fifteen to forty five minutes in most cases of hard
Speaker 2: physical work. After this often grueling introduction to training, then
Speaker 2: the players might be lucky to see a football in
Speaker 2: pre season. Sometimes the ball isn't seen for months. The
Speaker 2: less sophisticated versions of this hard physical work often we'll
Speaker 2: see different types of running that get the players so
Speaker 2: tired they can hardly breathe, walk, or function correctly for
Speaker 2: a while. The more thought out and considered versions of
Speaker 2: this are measured, timed and follow principle led approaches. For
Speaker 2: a moment, let's consider the principle led approaches that we
Speaker 2: should all be aware of as coaches. We don't necessarily
Speaker 2: need to be experts in the field, but a good
Speaker 2: overarching knowledge of the concepts will allow you to plan
Speaker 2: appropriate activities or make sure you ask the right questions
Speaker 2: of and keep accountable the ones that are planning them
Speaker 2: for you. These principles should thread through everything we ever
Speaker 2: do as athletes or coaches. If they don't, then we
Speaker 2: are leaving everything to chance and potentially not improving anything
Speaker 2: at all. With no knowledge of sports science principles, you
Speaker 2: are simply leaving it to chance. If you are doing
Speaker 2: this work without rhyme or reason, you need to change
Speaker 2: it immediately. You could be harming your players. I will
Speaker 2: put this in the simplest terms I can for you
Speaker 2: the reader. I will referring to these principles in chapter
Speaker 2: six of this book when I discuss planning sessions. If
Speaker 2: you find yourself intrigued by the conditioning Manu Shy being
Speaker 2: hinted at here, and you want to learn more about
Speaker 2: this topic, please head to chapter nine. Work and rest
Speaker 2: ratios are often labeled in numerical form. For example, a
Speaker 2: two to one ratio would represent twice the amount of
Speaker 2: work rest. The first number represents the duration of work
Speaker 2: and the second the duration of rest. An exercise designed
Speaker 2: to improve higher endurance levels and increased cardiovascular activity and
Speaker 2: ability would have an equal or higher duration of work
Speaker 2: figure than the rest figure. For example, one to one,
Speaker 2: one point five to one, two to one, three to one,
Speaker 2: et cetera. These are the kinds of activities that get
Speaker 2: players tired over a prolonged period. They are the kind
Speaker 2: of drills that lead players to exhaustion, deep breathing, and
Speaker 2: that burning the legs that makes them feel they can't
Speaker 2: control them anymore. You can teach practice skills and condition
Speaker 2: your players at the same time and in a far
Speaker 2: more enjoyable way than the old school methods. So that's
Speaker 2: party of the first section. Okay, I'm going to read
Speaker 2: you number nine now as well. I hope you're enjoying
Speaker 2: story time with Lee number nine coaching and judging the
Speaker 2: performance of players when they run against fresh air while
Speaker 2: you are sat reading to this book, reading this book,
Speaker 2: or should I say, in your case, listening, please do
Speaker 2: me a favor if you are able. Number one, put
Speaker 2: the book down. Number two, stand up, Number three, pretend
Speaker 2: you are a championship level boxer and throw some shadow punches.
Speaker 2: Please don't punch anyone or anything. Instead, just box against
Speaker 2: fresh air for about ten seconds. Number four, Sit down again.
Speaker 2: Number five, grab the book again. Number six read on.
Speaker 2: The chances are you threw some excellent punches. Depending on
Speaker 2: your age, you're probably picturing yourself as Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson,
Speaker 2: the Klitchko Brothers, or Alexander U. Sik right now, depending
Speaker 2: on your ability and age. There is a chance that
Speaker 2: you actually did resemble one of those very famous, some
Speaker 2: very successful boxers in your ten second bout against no
Speaker 2: One against fresh air. Anyone looks good against fresh air,
Speaker 2: but please don't try any of the next things at home.
Speaker 2: Imagine we put a light or heavy punching bag in
Speaker 2: front of you. You would all of a sudden have
Speaker 2: some resistance to work against and it would move. If
Speaker 2: we put a heavier punch bag in front, you'd have
Speaker 2: even more resistance. Regardless of your fitness level. It will
Speaker 2: fatigue you more quickly than shadow boxing, and you'd have
Speaker 2: to pick and choose when and wear your punch, getting
Speaker 2: your timing right. Should I bother putting someone in front
Speaker 2: of you to avoid your punches and to punch you back,
Speaker 2: they will move their feet too, so you might have
Speaker 2: to move yours Hopefully. Imagining these phases of your most
Speaker 2: recent development as a potential world class boxer gave you
Speaker 2: some indication that there is a difference between training in
Speaker 2: front of fresh air, training with a controlled level of opposition,
Speaker 2: and then actually competing against a walking, talking human being
Speaker 2: with their own brain. Later in chapter five you'll learn
Speaker 2: how to navigate that in your training. So that's the
Speaker 2: end of story time. But what I am going to
Speaker 2: tell you what the chapters are, because I did refer
Speaker 2: to some chapters there. So that's part one, thirteen things
Speaker 2: coaches do wrong the start of the book as a
Speaker 2: forward by James Tedesco. There's a little note from me
Speaker 2: in an introduction. Part two is the thirteen things I
Speaker 2: want coaches to focus on doing right. So number one
Speaker 2: coaching is more than just exes and out. Number two
Speaker 2: is change management. Number three is footing and coaching talk.
Speaker 2: Number four is what to coach? Number five, how to
Speaker 2: coach it, number six, how to plan it, number seven,
Speaker 2: how to manage it, number eight, long term player development,
Speaker 2: number nine, A strength and conditioning overview, number ten, recruitment
Speaker 2: and watching players, number eleven, Analyzing the game, number twelve,
Speaker 2: look after Yourself coach, and number thirteen coaching in the
Speaker 2: twenty first century. And then part three is called the
Speaker 2: Coaches Calling. Okay, So that's enough of storytime from Lee.
Speaker 2: If you want that book, hit me up or go
Speaker 2: on Amazon or wherever and purchase it there. I'm now
Speaker 2: going to play an old clip be a few minutes
Speaker 2: back in the lockdown days five years ago, did a
Speaker 2: question an answer, So people sent me questions and I
Speaker 2: gave answers off and from my car. So here's an
Speaker 2: old clip is about five years old. Have a listen.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to answer a couple of those questions
Speaker 2: that I got last week that I said I got
Speaker 2: from a coach, a friend and follower in Melbourne. Please
Speaker 2: send your questions through about coaching, about playing, whatever it
Speaker 2: may be.
Speaker 1: I've low I've got a few on a batlog already.
Speaker 2: To one of the questions that our friend in Melbourne said,
Speaker 2: how to coach fifteen year old? How do you make
Speaker 2: them keen to train when really the fun and the
Speaker 2: easy option will and he sort of says that they
Speaker 2: need to step up and step up the training well
Speaker 2: straight away.
Speaker 1: Either. The best bit of advice I give you there,
Speaker 1: my friend, is to make your training look fun and easy,
Speaker 1: but actually step it up.
Speaker 2: So the way I do that is I do that
Speaker 2: through conditioning games an awful lot, but I'd make things
Speaker 2: happen in the game that make it a hell of
Speaker 2: a lot harder. So, for example, imagine you were playing
Speaker 2: a small sided game and then the defensive team on
Speaker 2: every player the ball had to get up and down
Speaker 2: off the ground, or one of them matter run round
Speaker 2: the phone, or had to run round a post or
Speaker 2: whatever it may be. Anything to make that game harder.
Speaker 2: That is my advice there. So my ultimate advice there
Speaker 2: is make it look fun and easy, but make it hard.
Speaker 2: If they're wrapped up in a game, they'll forget about
Speaker 2: the hard element of it, they'll be so obsessed with
Speaker 2: winning and competing in that game. I hope that helps you.
Speaker 2: If you need any ideas, go on the YouTube page
Speaker 2: which is free, or Rugby League coach dot com dot au.
Speaker 2: The other question, the same gentleman asked, is how can
Speaker 2: coaching staff get more from parents? And what he means
Speaker 2: in that is communication, And my advice is communication.
Speaker 1: It's about how you do your communication now golden rule.
Speaker 2: I've always worked too when it comes to communicating with players.
Speaker 2: What too many people tend to do, sorry, communicate with
Speaker 2: players or coaches or parents, whatever it may.
Speaker 1: Communicating with anyone.
Speaker 2: What too many people tend to do is use one
Speaker 2: method and hope that one size fits all. My advice
Speaker 2: is to communicate regularly with all parents, be honest with
Speaker 2: them about what you want and why you're communicating with them,
Speaker 2: and how they can be part of the partnership if
Speaker 2: you like, between coach and parents, to move your team forward.
Speaker 2: But the golden rule is some people will be good
Speaker 2: with text, some will be good with Facebook Messenger, some
Speaker 2: will be good with WhatsApp, some will be good with email,
Speaker 2: some will be good with fax machines, some will be
Speaker 2: good with carry a pigeon. And I suppose you've got
Speaker 2: to work out the best method, and I think that's
Speaker 2: only trial and error. And some parents, no matter what
Speaker 2: you can unicate with them, no matter how often you communicate,
Speaker 2: they won't give a rats. But all you can do
Speaker 2: is try and make them aware and make them feel
Speaker 2: that they are part of their child progression. Going back
Speaker 2: to the fifteen year old as well, it's just something
Speaker 2: that's come to my mind answering that question.
Speaker 1: I don't remember. Fifteen year old ish is when.
Speaker 2: The distractions start to kick in right where they find
Speaker 2: other things in life. The emphasis has to be on
Speaker 2: fund in your training more than ever. But you've definitely
Speaker 2: you've got to disguise the work in there and sort
Speaker 2: of fool them if you like. If you need any
Speaker 2: tips from that, you know what to do.
Speaker 1: You're back with.
Speaker 2: Lee on episode two five seven of the Rugby League
Speaker 2: Coach Podcast. In every walk of life, life and in
Speaker 2: the game of rugby league, people regroup. Okay, So what
Speaker 2: I mean by that is, whatever you're competing in against
Speaker 2: someone else, be it business, be it work, be it
Speaker 2: a game of rugby league, be it you a coach
Speaker 2: or your player, you've got to give the opposition the
Speaker 2: respect that they are going to work out what you're doing,
Speaker 2: they're going to calibrate themselves with what you're doing, and
Speaker 2: they're going to come back with something else. So I'll
Speaker 2: try and give you an example. If you start again
Speaker 2: with side to side ball movement and have some success
Speaker 2: with that, there's every chance the opposition will either slide quicker,
Speaker 2: focus more on collision control so that it's not easy
Speaker 2: for you to shift sideways, or they may indeed change
Speaker 2: their defensive structure. Either way, you've got to adapt and
Speaker 2: you've got to have the next plan ready. So you've
Speaker 2: got to be two or three steps ahead of your opponent.
Speaker 2: Always think the opposition of going to regroup. Always think
Speaker 2: that if you are a player and you get something
Speaker 2: over your opponent, that they will regroup. Something else that
Speaker 2: is a bit of a plague in rugby league, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, is warm ups that go far and going
Speaker 2: far too long before games. I saw a warm up
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago that was literally like a
Speaker 2: training session on its own. It was about twenty five
Speaker 2: minutes long, and the players move from one thing to
Speaker 2: the next to the next. There was no need for
Speaker 2: it to happen. The heart rate would have gone up
Speaker 2: and down and up and down throughout the warm up,
Speaker 2: and the coach I'm helping I suggested to him shortening
Speaker 2: the warm up, bringing it closer to kickoff, and actually
Speaker 2: increasing the heart rate as you go up, and it'd
Speaker 2: be interesting to see. Well, look, I know how this
Speaker 2: works because I've spent so many years measuring it from
Speaker 2: a heart rate and GPS point of view. So look,
Speaker 2: think about your warm up. Remember what your warm up is.
Speaker 2: The warm up is a means to an end. The
Speaker 2: warm up is designed to get your players ready for
Speaker 2: a game or for a training session. It doesn't need
Speaker 2: to be a training session itself. These people who were
Speaker 2: warming up the twenty five minute warm up was for
Speaker 2: a twenty five minute each half game their warm what
Speaker 2: was one third of their physical output that day? Doesn't
Speaker 2: make sense, does it? And this is because coaching apprenticeship
Speaker 2: still matter. Not long after recorded last week's podcast, Matt
Speaker 2: King was announced as the new South Wales coach for
Speaker 2: two years now. Matt King has done a decent apprenticeship.
Speaker 2: He has been an assistant for a long time both
Speaker 2: in the New South Wales system and I think the
Speaker 2: Melbourne Storm system as well, and was certainly a talented player,
Speaker 2: so he's done a decent apprenticeship. Okay, that will still
Speaker 2: be interesting though because he's not been a head coach
Speaker 2: of a team, so let's see. Okay. But anyway, this
Speaker 2: year twenty twenty six two coaches. I want to talk
Speaker 2: about Benji Marshall at the West Tigers care and Forum
Speaker 2: at the Manly Seagulls. A lot of media talk has
Speaker 2: the benefit of hindsight and probably the bigger issue than
Speaker 2: the individuals is the pathway now care and forum. Given
Speaker 2: the Manly job, I've had an ex Manly player have
Speaker 2: a go at me on socials saying all you ever
Speaker 2: do is criticized coaches look for negatives. May have you
Speaker 2: ever heard me criticized Craig Bellamy? Have you ever heard
Speaker 2: me criticize Wayne Bennett? I went through a phase at
Speaker 2: one point where I criticized Trent Robinson for a little bit,
Speaker 2: and he seems to have adapted and based on the
Speaker 2: not having listened to my criticisms. But I think he
Speaker 2: is smart enough. And there's so many coaches I have not criticized.
Speaker 2: Ricky Schutt. I've not criticized this. Coaches have praised. Andrew
Speaker 2: Webster is one example. Not put a foot wrong. As
Speaker 2: far as I can see, so many of praise. So
Speaker 2: when you write things like that, all you're doing is
Speaker 2: taking what you want from my content, right, And anybody
Speaker 2: who comments too much on a small clip needs to
Speaker 2: do some background research. Quite frankly, for years I've said
Speaker 2: coaching is a profession, and Caring Forum finished one profession
Speaker 2: and within a matter of months was given another without
Speaker 2: doing an apprenticeship. Benji Marshall quite a similar scenario, although
Speaker 2: Benji Marshall did initially sign a contract under Tim Sheens
Speaker 2: to work under Tim Sheen's for two years, and then
Speaker 2: the machinations of the West Tigers meant he got the
Speaker 2: job early. And what we're seeing in both cases is
Speaker 2: them learning on the job. They're learning on the job
Speaker 2: in front of thousands and millions of eyes and so
Speaker 2: much scrutiny. Coaching is a profession. It's just like teaching
Speaker 2: medicine or engineering. In rugby league, we still fall into
Speaker 2: the trap of believing that because someone was an elite player,
Speaker 2: that they'll naturally become an elite coach. History tells us
Speaker 2: that simply is not true, right, and playing and coaching
Speaker 2: are two completely different skill sets. Playing is about executing.
Speaker 2: Playing is about seeing things on the field that you
Speaker 2: can't necessarily describe. Sometimes playing is about using and new
Speaker 2: human instincts to overcome several hurdles. I mean, at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, rugby league is of me versus
Speaker 2: you game, right, there's a lot of physicality in that.
Speaker 2: Coaching is about developing, planning, communicating, leading, managing people, managing upwards,
Speaker 2: managing downwards, having business ideas and business structures in mind,
Speaker 2: developing staff as well as developing players, projecting ahead, planning ahead, recruitment,
Speaker 2: dealing with the media, controlling narratives, communicating with your fans.
Speaker 2: So I could go on and on and on. They're
Speaker 2: completely different jobs, aren't they. And people like Forum and
Speaker 2: people like Marshal. I mean, some of the things that
Speaker 2: Benji is dealing with right now now in terms of
Speaker 2: the Adam Dewey situations, are on lu Eye being a
Speaker 2: leader inside the place and talking the talk and then
Speaker 2: the reality being somewhat different as soon as P and
Speaker 2: G came knocking. Paul Benji is having to deal with
Speaker 2: this in front of the public, and he's got his
Speaker 2: messaging wrong vis a vis the Dowiet scenario. He's got
Speaker 2: people leaking things outside the club. All his talk has
Speaker 2: been about team first, club first. Yet a player refuses
Speaker 2: to play and then gets into the team the next week,
Speaker 2: and then they try and explain why he refuse to play,
Speaker 2: even though that itself is it's probably one step too far,
Speaker 2: going that far and saying I'm not playing in this
Speaker 2: team and this is all happening. Wow, people are watching
Speaker 2: on television. Social media analyzes every decision and that's probably
Speaker 2: before even the club have processed it. Imagine asking a
Speaker 2: first year school teacher to become a principal imagine asking
Speaker 2: a year twelve kid, but by the way, next year,
Speaker 2: can you just become principal even if they were great
Speaker 2: at academics, not you. Or asking a newly qualified electrician
Speaker 2: to run a national company or a big regional role.
Speaker 2: We'd never do it, would we. Rugby League always asks
Speaker 2: inexperienced coaches to lead multi million and all a football
Speaker 2: departments and franchises with enormous expectations. Billy Slater is learning
Speaker 2: on the job as Queensland coach. But there's fundamental things
Speaker 2: every coach has to master, and some of those are obvious.
Speaker 2: How do you plan a session? How do you structure
Speaker 2: a training week? How do you communicate a game plan
Speaker 2: so every player understands their role. They're the obvious things,
Speaker 2: aren't they really? But then this is where the things
Speaker 2: I'm going to say now are where we separate a
Speaker 2: lot of coaches. How do you review your performances through
Speaker 2: what lens? How do you manage your assistance? How do
Speaker 2: you build standards with coaches and players? How do you
Speaker 2: deal with selection, confidence, injuries and any pressure that you
Speaker 2: get from losing streaks or media be it local or
Speaker 2: national depending on the job that you do, or it
Speaker 2: might be from the committee, it might be from your
Speaker 2: parents if you're a junior coach. None of those things
Speaker 2: are learned by kicking goals, making titles, or winning premierships
Speaker 2: as a player, or not winning premierships as a player.
Speaker 2: They learned through studying, coaching, coaching, and reflecting on coaching.
Speaker 2: They're learned through making mistakes, learned by watching experienced coaches,
Speaker 2: asking questions of them regularly, and gradually taking on more
Speaker 2: responsibility as you go along, working with more experienced coaches,
Speaker 2: and then developing your own mindset and think I do
Speaker 2: this differently, I do that differently. That's why apprenticeships matter.
Speaker 2: The best coaches I've seen, the best coaches I've worked with,
Speaker 2: didn't just appear overnight. They spent years coaching junior teams, reserve,
Speaker 2: grade school football, representive football, or working as assistants. They
Speaker 2: made mistakes where the consequences weren't played out on national TV. Basically,
Speaker 2: by the time they made head coach their job, they've
Speaker 2: learned so many of the lessons. And everything I'm saying
Speaker 2: now doesn't mean Benji Marshall or care and form can't
Speaker 2: become outstanding. That's not what I'm saying far from it.
Speaker 2: Some of the best coaches in history had difficult starts.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean you can't be a great coach if you've
Speaker 2: had it thrown your way before you think you're ready.
Speaker 2: You just need the support. The point is, and this
Speaker 2: is an overriding principle of this podcast always, is that
Speaker 2: coaching development takes time, and every player who gets thrown
Speaker 2: in as a coach the experiences should remind that coach
Speaker 2: that there are no shortcuts. You've got to learn your
Speaker 2: craft at whatever you do. And my advice to twenty
Speaker 2: coaches is coach as much as you can, coach as
Speaker 2: many teams as you can, observe experience. Coaches reflect after
Speaker 2: every session, constantly work on the way you communicate with people.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you now, I mean I've been coaching for
Speaker 2: twenty seven years. The way I communicate with players now,
Speaker 2: regardless of age, is different to how it was twenty
Speaker 2: seven years ago. Try and become a great teacher and
Speaker 2: a great mentor before you try to become a head coach,
Speaker 2: because coaching will not be what union as a player too.
Speaker 2: So the further you're removed from your playing career, the
Speaker 2: game will have moved on. It's about what you can
Speaker 2: help other people learn, and what you can teach other people,
Speaker 2: and how you can mentor other people. That's a real
Speaker 2: professional profession of coaching. You'll find thousands of coaching resources
Speaker 2: and lots of advice at rugby league coach dot com
Speaker 2: to say you keep coaching, keep learning, and keep helping
Speaker 2: players become the very best version of themselves. I mentioned
Speaker 2: this a couple of weeks ago about why we coach,
Speaker 2: and I think the greatest part of coaching probably isn't
Speaker 2: the trophies or the medals. It's not seeing your name
Speaker 2: in the paper. I think it's about watching people become
Speaker 2: something they never believe they could be. Isn't it helping
Speaker 2: people discover a version of themselves that they didn't know existed.
Speaker 2: I can think of a few jobs where I've instantly
Speaker 2: just created confidence just by looking at people in a
Speaker 2: different way to the way they've been looked at before
Speaker 2: in terms of their skill sets. Sports and therefore, rugby
Speaker 2: league is one of life's greatest classrooms. I always say
Speaker 2: rugby league is a metaphor for life. You have the
Speaker 2: workers who do the same thing every time they asked
Speaker 2: to do something, and they tend to be in the forwards,
Speaker 2: and you have the stars, and they tend to be
Speaker 2: in the backs, and they have some glamour about what
Speaker 2: they do and when they do it's very exciting. You
Speaker 2: have people who organize and you have people who want
Speaker 2: to be organized by somebody else. Leaders and followers. Sport
Speaker 2: and rugby league teaches resilience when things don't go your way.
Speaker 2: It teaches the one percenters the hard work in a game,
Speaker 2: the inside slide, the kickchase, the work at mark, and
Speaker 2: so many others. But it also teaches us that even
Speaker 2: though we play every week, the seven days leading up
Speaker 2: to that, there's a lot of hard work too, So
Speaker 2: that's sacrifice when nobody is watching. One of my favorite
Speaker 2: phrases is champions are made when no one is watching.
Speaker 2: It teaches accountability, teamwork, and perseverance. Every now and then,
Speaker 2: you coach a team that reminds you why you fell
Speaker 2: in love with coaching in the first place, don't you.
Speaker 2: A few years ago now, I coached one such team,
Speaker 2: and I know I've mentioned it in the book too.
Speaker 2: On paper, I'm telling how this team shouldn't have finished fifth.
Speaker 2: Everything that could go wrong in the year went wrong.
Speaker 2: Players left throughout the season for one reason or another.
Speaker 2: None of it was due to the team, It was
Speaker 2: just logistics, family, etc. We got to the Grand Final,
Speaker 2: we didn't have half back or five eight standoff available,
Speaker 2: didn't have a scrum half and standoff available to you
Speaker 2: a lot listening in England and New Zealand. So I
Speaker 2: had to make the fullback the chief ball distributor, and
Speaker 2: I played two extra props in what we normally have
Speaker 2: as a six or seven. Of course they couldn't fit
Speaker 2: in those jerseys right. So during the game I had
Speaker 2: two subs maximum that were capable of being on the field.
Speaker 2: I think I only had two subs with that down
Speaker 2: that much down to our bare bone, So I didn't
Speaker 2: make the first interchange until a forty second minute. Most
Speaker 2: teams would have found excuses, wouldn't they. These players found solutions.
Speaker 2: They won the Grand Final thirty seven nil. I think
Speaker 2: sometime in August or September. But the defining moment wasn't
Speaker 2: that Grand finally actually came months earlier. Early in the
Speaker 2: comp We lost again and it was a game that hurt.
Speaker 2: Yet that defeat was the turning point. From that moment on,
Speaker 2: everything changed. The next five matches alone, they scored two
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty seven points and conceded just twenty two.
Speaker 2: The team lacked superstar talent, and there's not many would
Speaker 2: get on a highlights reel, but what they had in
Speaker 2: buckets was courage, and they had makeship. They had determination
Speaker 2: and discipline about much of what they did, and an
Speaker 2: incredible level of mental toughness. I think they discovered something
Speaker 2: that many talented teams never do, and that's the belief
Speaker 2: can become your greatest weapon. I remember with that team,
Speaker 2: I put it back on them at one point about
Speaker 2: how they were training, et cetera, how they were preparing,
Speaker 2: and they completely owned it, communicated with each other overnight
Speaker 2: via their social media carriers, and came back a different
Speaker 2: team again. And that season reinforced something I've believed for
Speaker 2: a long time, and that's that guest talent can win
Speaker 2: us games, but character gives us a chance to win championships.
Speaker 2: I often say this every big competition I've won as
Speaker 2: a coach, and I think I've won something like fourteen.
Speaker 2: My teams could defend for days on their goal line.
Speaker 2: They just had that desire to do more to help
Speaker 2: each other to go the extra mile for each other
Speaker 2: and that's character as coaches. We don't always remember every
Speaker 2: score line years later, do we. We often remember how
Speaker 2: it was achieved and this was a team and there's
Speaker 2: been so many others. Every team that won a premiership
Speaker 2: with refused to quit and hopefully those lessons are learned
Speaker 2: long after the final whistle. And as I keep saying,
Speaker 2: we coach more than just footballers. We coach people and
Speaker 2: it's about create better people, isn't it. As I say
Speaker 2: to here each week, it seems I've done a lot
Speaker 2: of work in putting long term player development models in
Speaker 2: at clubs and schools. I actually created two of what
Speaker 2: are now the biggest rugby league schools in Australia. In
Speaker 2: terms of a rugby league program, every club that fails
Speaker 2: has no plan or a plan that they throw out
Speaker 2: every year or two. Every club that is successful has
Speaker 2: a plan that is sustainable and it's sustainable for the
Speaker 2: future and they stay on the path. I also have
Speaker 2: an ability right now to provide mentoring and mentoring for
Speaker 2: coaches and clinics all around Australia, regardless of your budgets
Speaker 2: or want you to get in touch email admin at
Speaker 2: Rugby League Coach dot com. But ay you message me
Speaker 2: at Rugby League Coach on Socials, Instagram and Facebook to
Speaker 2: send me a message please, but you can get us
Speaker 2: on most carriers apart from Snapchat. Can't be bothered with that,
Speaker 2: and x is at RL coach on the net. One
Speaker 2: of the big things I'm passionate about is the bush
Speaker 2: and country rugby league and wherever you are in New
Speaker 2: South Wales and Queensland in particular, I want you to
Speaker 2: reach out please. Every week in the last few weeks
Speaker 2: I've read out a list of places. Please listen back
Speaker 2: to the old pods. I don't want some people will
Speaker 2: be scrolling past this bit because they've heard it for
Speaker 2: the last two weeks. But yeah, look, if you're in Australia,
Speaker 2: if you're in England, where ever New Zealand, reach out. Okay.
Speaker 2: Remember as a coach, what you let go is what
Speaker 2: you allow and what you walk past is what you allow.
Speaker 2: A lot of things at Rugby League Coach dot com
Speaker 2: to tay you are thirty to fifty off right now.
Speaker 1: This is the.
Speaker 2: If you like, the period where most coaches just want
Speaker 2: to get to the end of the year and then
Speaker 2: they'll see where they end up. Some of them are
Speaker 2: wrapped up in trying to win a comp. Others are
Speaker 2: is resigned to the fact that they might not win.
Speaker 2: But it's a good time to come on the Coach
Speaker 2: Mental program get in touch. But also we've got deals
Speaker 2: on the yearly coach access to Rugby League Coach dot
Speaker 2: com to tay you. We've got a deal on the
Speaker 2: yearly full access to that website too. We've got deals
Speaker 2: on lifetime access, and we've got deals on website access
Speaker 2: to everything. I've got two websites, Rugby League Coach dot
Speaker 2: com to tay you, Courses dot rugbyley Coach dot com
Speaker 2: to tay you Together. They retail over one thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: You can get all that for half plus some mentoring
Speaker 2: as well, So that's one on one direct mentoring with me.
Speaker 2: So please please go and have a look at Rugby
Speaker 2: League Coach dot com to tear you forward, slash Coach
Speaker 2: mentor or Rugby League Coach dot com to tight au
Speaker 2: Forward Slash shop and have a look at some of
Speaker 2: the things. Weekly. I hosts Super League three sixty podcasts
Speaker 2: and I am going to tell you now that soon
Speaker 2: after the NRL and Super League season finish. Anyway, there's
Speaker 2: going to be a Rugby League History podcast with myself,
Speaker 2: Tony Collins, probably the most pre eminent historian in rugby league,
Speaker 2: and Andrew Ferguson, who Tony Collins said, without even skipping
Speaker 2: a beat, he's we needed to get on the show too.
Speaker 2: So look, I'm an amateur when it comes to history,
Speaker 2: but I love it and I'll I'll be asking the questions,
Speaker 2: pulling the thing together between those two great historians. And
Speaker 2: we're going to start with World Cup things because obviously
Speaker 2: the World Cup is on.
Speaker 1: So get ready for that.
Speaker 2: That's going to be called the Rugby League History Podcast
Speaker 2: with myself, Tony Collins and Andrew Ferguson. I do Super
Speaker 2: League three sixty with John Davidson, as I've said, and
Speaker 2: we'll be doing World Cup coverage too, so that will
Speaker 2: be Super League three sixty of the World Cup editions
Speaker 2: or something like that. I'm also on the Loose Carry
Speaker 2: podcast with Zero Tackle each week. And remember many journalists
Speaker 2: in the world of rugby league, they say only the
Speaker 2: things that they feel comfortable saying because they need players
Speaker 2: to interview, etc. They need the coaches to interview, and
Speaker 2: if they get them off side, they could be turned down.
Speaker 2: Zero Tackle tends not to have that problem because it's
Speaker 2: an independent provider and stays independent. But also definitely I
Speaker 2: do not have that issue. So on there, I sometimes
Speaker 2: often tea off and occasionally I expand on and preview
Speaker 2: some of those issues. On here, we're going to go
Speaker 2: a little bit away from coaching right now and talk
Speaker 2: about the World Cup and different performances in it over
Speaker 2: the years, and why the English system is an absolute joke.
Speaker 2: I wonder if I asked one hundred rugby league fans
Speaker 2: when the next World Cup starts and how many teams
Speaker 2: are in it? Who could tell me? If I asked
Speaker 2: to one hundred people in Brisbane, Sydney, maybe even Saint
Speaker 2: Helens and Wigan and Hull the tournament. The whole thing
Speaker 2: about a tournament, a World Cup is it should be
Speaker 2: the absolute highlight of the game. International rugby league should
Speaker 2: be the pinnacle. But instead it feels like some kind
Speaker 2: of afterthought, doesn't it sitting in the shadow of the
Speaker 2: NRL and state of origin and the Grand Final in
Speaker 2: the UK. And I think coaches can be guilty of
Speaker 2: that too. A club level, any club representative football should
Speaker 2: be absolute pinnacle. If your players get picked, you should
Speaker 2: be encouraging them to go. Because I'm doing this Rugby
Speaker 2: League history podcast and I need to ask the right questions.
Speaker 2: I've been doing a lot of research on the history
Speaker 2: of the Rugby League World Cup and I found myself
Speaker 2: going down a rabbit hole that I actually really enjoyed.
Speaker 2: And one of the first things is a surprise about
Speaker 2: where it all began. Most people assume England or Australia
Speaker 2: came up with the idea and hosted the first one
Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty four. Wrong. It was actually born in
Speaker 2: France and it was a French idea. Now again, if
Speaker 2: you are interested in things like this, this is going
Speaker 2: to blow your mind away. France had in nineteen fifty
Speaker 2: four were only nine years off the Germans being there
Speaker 2: and World War two, right, and when Germany took over France.
Speaker 2: In the southern part of France, there was an old
Speaker 2: French general who was sympathetic to the Nazi creed and
Speaker 2: ran a Vichy government as it was called in the
Speaker 2: southern area of France on behalf of the Nazis. Basically,
Speaker 2: so it was a French government but with Nazi sympathies.
Speaker 2: What happened then, and I want you to imagine this
Speaker 2: happening now in Brisbane, Sydney, anywhere well, Queensland, New South
Speaker 2: Wales and anywhere along that sixty two corridor in the UK.
Speaker 2: Imagine that the Prime Minister or whoever the King just
Speaker 2: says one day every rugby league club and resource now
Speaker 2: belongs to rugby Union when rugby league is outlawed, including grounds,
Speaker 2: money in your bank, equipment facilities. That's what happened in
Speaker 2: France under the Vichy government, and there was worries about
Speaker 2: professionalism and the approach to professionalism, and it was seen
Speaker 2: to be against the spirit of sporting endeavor. So amateur
Speaker 2: and professional had a bit of a collision. And I
Speaker 2: always think that amateur and professional thing is really interesting
Speaker 2: in Australia because there's a lot of A grade footballers
Speaker 2: around Australia who get paid an absolute fortune for what
Speaker 2: they do, which is sometimes trained twice a week and
Speaker 2: then play sometimes at the weekend. And some of them
Speaker 2: don't do it very well because they don't look after
Speaker 2: their bodies fantastically, yet they don't get held to professional
Speaker 2: standards out of all hardship. In France from that time,
Speaker 2: the vision to create a global competition, suppressed any negatives
Speaker 2: about rugby league being suppressed, and the French obviously wanted
Speaker 2: to generate some money for their sport IOUs need a
Speaker 2: swig of my water, Thank you Global League Network. So
Speaker 2: the first World Cup was played nineteen fifty four, Like
Speaker 2: I said, nine years after the end of well, eight
Speaker 2: years after the end of World War two, nine years
Speaker 2: after the Germans were still there, I suppose, and it
Speaker 2: must have been exciting at the time. Australia, Great Britain,
Speaker 2: France and New Zealand all traveled. Sorry, France didn't have
Speaker 2: to travel, but Australian, Great Britain and New Zealand traveled
Speaker 2: to France. Now the other thing is guess who the
Speaker 2: fifth team were. But they pulled out a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks before the tournament, a combination of their own thoughts
Speaker 2: but also other group's thoughts about their ability to hold
Speaker 2: it down in the tournament. It was the USA and
Speaker 2: they wouldn't play in the World Cup until I was
Speaker 2: on the coaching staff in twenty thirteen. Unbelievable, isn't it.
Speaker 2: So that was the first World Cup in nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2: Now I'm not going to take you through the whole
Speaker 2: history of the World Cup. Now that's not what this
Speaker 2: podcast is about, but I we'll tell you this. The
Speaker 2: World Cup trophy that a winning team will lift in
Speaker 2: November that was stolen for two years or disappeared, sorry,
Speaker 2: for two decades. Nobody knew where it was and during
Speaker 2: that time, different trophies were used for the tournament. Then
Speaker 2: one day the trophy was rediscovered almost by accident, twenty
Speaker 2: years after it was missing. How many sporting trophies have
Speaker 2: a mystery like that attached to them and it just
Speaker 2: adds another chapter to rugby league rich history. And if
Speaker 2: we'll look at the World Cup, some of the stuff
Speaker 2: is some of the games, there's so much history in it.
Speaker 2: One World Cup final in nineteen seventy was so bad
Speaker 2: in England that was there was calls to ban the
Speaker 2: game and ban it from TV. It was so physical
Speaker 2: and not in a fair way or a good way.
Speaker 2: The World Cup itself, though, probably hasn't helped people's interest
Speaker 2: in it. Obviously Australia have dominated so many competitions, but
Speaker 2: there's been so many different tournament formats, different numbers of
Speaker 2: competing nations, different qualification systems. Sometimes quarterfinals, sometimes only semifinals.
Speaker 2: Sometimes three groups, four groups, sometimes super pool. Sometimes one
Speaker 2: team can qualify from a pool, other times three, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera. And here's where I think we need to
Speaker 2: get excited, though. I think as a sport it gives
Speaker 2: us international rugby league or something we don't always get
Speaker 2: in club football. You get different coaching philosophies or approaches.
Speaker 2: You don't need to coach rep players that much, or
Speaker 2: you don't have time to coach players that much. You
Speaker 2: get different defense, different attacking, different ways of solving what
Speaker 2: essentially are the same football problems, aren't they. You watch Australia, England,
Speaker 2: New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga in particular, they will be heavily
Speaker 2: influenced by the rugby league world I suppose, and the
Speaker 2: things that happen in our ecosystem. But teams like Fiji, France, Papua,
Speaker 2: New Guinea, etc. They have slightly different takes on it.
Speaker 2: Every nation brings something slightly different, and as coaches in particular,
Speaker 2: I think that's gold. As students of the game, that's
Speaker 2: gold for us. And it could be just one tactical idea,
Speaker 2: one kick press system, one defensive adjustment on set play,
Speaker 2: or an approach to the game, maybe a bit more
Speaker 2: of a free approach and relaxed approach that will give
Speaker 2: coaches some inspiration. International rugby league, just like origin, gives
Speaker 2: players opportunities to represent their heritage, their family, their country
Speaker 2: in the case of international rugby league, their state in
Speaker 2: the case of origin. And you can see it in
Speaker 2: emotion and pride and intensity that these people bring to
Speaker 2: these occasions. So I'd encourage everybody listening to this podcast
Speaker 2: to embrace it. Watch everybody, not just Australia, not just England,
Speaker 2: not just New Zealand. Watch how the different nations attack,
Speaker 2: how they defend yardage, how they use the ball. The
Speaker 2: coaching details or the playing details often get unnoticed, the
Speaker 2: things we take for granted when we watch a game
Speaker 2: for rugby league or coach rugby league. It's very hard
Speaker 2: to coach players who don't do those things week in
Speaker 2: week out. And together, let's help giving international rugby league
Speaker 2: the quedos it deserves. Now that brings me to the
Speaker 2: state of the country I was born and raised in.
Speaker 2: From a rugby league point of view, Great Britain or
Speaker 2: England have not beaten Australia in a test match, so
Speaker 2: in a game of rugby league since the fourth of
Speaker 2: November two thousand and six. So when the World Cup
Speaker 2: is on, that will be twenty years. Let that sink him.
Speaker 2: The game in Britain reached a real low point in
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two after the Australian Kangaroos got known as
Speaker 2: the Invincibles by coming through Britain and France and not
Speaker 2: losing a game. The Rugby Football League at the time
Speaker 2: didn't just shrug their shoulders and move on. They commissioned inquiries,
Speaker 2: analyzed Australia and why they'd surged ahead, studied coaching methods
Speaker 2: and junior development methods, and desperately searched for answers. So
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty two, they'd last beaten Australia in a
Speaker 2: game four years earlier, not twenty years earlier. Four years earlier.
Speaker 2: They'd last won a World Cup only ten years earlier,
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy two, and they'd last won an Ashy
Speaker 2: Series only twelve years earlier, in nineteen seventy And there
Speaker 2: was concern then, But where's the concern now? Two decades
Speaker 2: without beating Australia in a game, fifty four years since
Speaker 2: they've won a World Cup and therefore managed to beat
Speaker 2: Australia on more than one occasion in a given year,
Speaker 2: fifty six years since they've beaten Australia in a three
Speaker 2: Tests series, or half a century. They're not just disappointing numbers,
Speaker 2: they're alarming half a century. The only things that change
Speaker 2: are the odd coaching appointment, the odd review and other
Speaker 2: strategic document But what's actually changed from the grassroots right
Speaker 2: down to or right through to the elite pathways. Whenever
Speaker 2: criticism is directed Usustralia or New Zealand for not doing
Speaker 2: enough to grow the game, it's worth noting that it's
Speaker 2: not just Australia or New Zealand who should grow the
Speaker 2: international game. England has one of the richest rugby league
Speaker 2: histories in the world, with passionate supporters, historic clubs and
Speaker 2: volunteers will never leave the game. Yet somewhere along the
Speaker 2: line with allowed Ireland, Wales and Scotland to wither on
Speaker 2: the vine European Rugby League. And remember I was the
Speaker 2: head coach of Poland and the lack of support was alarming.
Speaker 2: The game is just drifting off and the clubs are
Speaker 2: leaving it behind. And it's not the player's fault. This
Speaker 2: a system's issue, it's a club's issue. It's a leadership issue,
Speaker 2: an administrative issue. International rugby league desperately needs a strong
Speaker 2: England or else it's the Southern Hemisphere World Cup. I
Speaker 2: think you all agree, agree with me that it's a
Speaker 2: better tournament if England are doing well, or it's a
Speaker 2: better ashes series if England are winning a game or
Speaker 2: getting close rather than falling over. When Australia brings in
Speaker 2: some cases their third and fourth Childish players for a
Speaker 2: three match series. The game doesn't need another slogan. It
Speaker 2: needs root and branch perform in the UK because twenty
Speaker 2: years without beating Australia shouldn't be accepted as normal, and
Speaker 2: half a century of not beating Australia or winning a
Speaker 2: World Cup, it's absolutely disgusting and it's I'm ashamed, right,
Speaker 2: And that's why I understand sometimes why people comment on
Speaker 2: me posts and go, what does this pomolys because we
Speaker 2: don't deserve that respect naturally, because oh, you could argue
Speaker 2: we don't deserve it because have we earned it? And
Speaker 2: the answer is definitely not. I hope you enjoyed that podcast,
Speaker 2: and I hope you enjoyed the fact it was out
Speaker 2: on time this week. So I did record it a
Speaker 2: bit earlier, got ahead of myself and got myself organized.
Speaker 2: Take care. I love your work. Name Name