Speaker 1: How are you doing? Welcome to the Rugby League Coach Podcast,
Speaker 1: episode two hundred and fifty five. We're in season four.
Speaker 1: My name is Lee Addison. I am the owner of
Speaker 1: Rugby League Coach dot com to tay you. I'm a coach, educator, coach,
Speaker 1: mentor consultant and author of Rugby League Coach thirteen game
Speaker 1: Changing Conversations to Transform your coaching. I'm a big consumer
Speaker 1: of water and that consumption is sponsored by the Global
Speaker 1: League Network and you can follow them at Global League
Speaker 1: dot Network. If you want to shout out on this podcast,
Speaker 1: if you want to sponsor us anything like that, or
Speaker 1: if you want to send a question. We've got any ideas,
Speaker 1: please write to me admin at Rugby League Coach dot
Speaker 1: com to tay you on the email. Also at Rugby
Speaker 1: League Coach on Instagram or Facebook is a good way
Speaker 1: to mess me. But you can find us at Rugby
Speaker 1: League Coach on most social media channels apart from x
Speaker 1: which is at oural coach on the net. First of all,
Speaker 1: for those who were seeing the clips, I hope you
Speaker 1: were in your sunglasses. I have Mirandra Lizard's Junior Rugby
Speaker 1: League hoody on my good friend Nick or should I say. Bundy,
Speaker 1: as is called, the president of Nerandra Lizards, promise me
Speaker 1: a hoody next time I visited, and this is what
Speaker 1: he gave me, and I promised I'd wear it on
Speaker 1: the podcast that I was recording in the forthcoming week.
Speaker 1: So here we are. This year. I think I've had
Speaker 1: more parents and coaches than ever before contact or tell
Speaker 1: me that their kids are having lots of trouble tackling.
Speaker 1: How does that marry with your coaching with your children?
Speaker 1: With anything that you've seen? One of the most common
Speaker 1: things I hear is and indeed I only I only
Speaker 1: read out a question last week. Great an attack, scared
Speaker 1: or can't defend is the other side of this assessment
Speaker 1: in so many cases. So it's brought me to thinking.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that I believe this, but it's
Speaker 1: certainly a hypothesis that I'm I wouldn't say I'm exploring.
Speaker 1: I've asked you some questions on Facebook and you've answered
Speaker 1: in your droves and I'm going to bring the best
Speaker 1: ones forward to this podcast. But it's made me start
Speaker 1: to believe that maybe stopping in Australia under sixes and sevens,
Speaker 1: tackling and instead making them play a tag version of
Speaker 1: the sport means they are missing key stages of learning
Speaker 1: how to tackle and missing lots of genuine lifelike repetition.
Speaker 1: So if you're a regular listener to me, you'll know
Speaker 1: that I'm always suggesting to do as many games as
Speaker 1: you can in training. Now, I had a very very
Speaker 1: very respected coach club coach consultant who I mentor, told
Speaker 1: me last week that he's got some coaches that play.
Speaker 1: He's got them playing games, but they don't know how
Speaker 1: to correct. They don't know how to fix things. I
Speaker 1: went to a club last week where the coach consultant said, Lee,
Speaker 1: I want you to show my coaches how to use
Speaker 1: games to fix things. So if you think about the
Speaker 1: last four years of coaching advice I've been giving, you'll
Speaker 1: know a hold games and games learning in the highest possible,
Speaker 1: in the highest regard. Then you can understand why I've
Speaker 1: come to this theory or this hypothesis. They've banned kids
Speaker 1: tackling for about one sixth of their junior years, So
Speaker 1: if you imagine a kid plays between six and eighteen
Speaker 1: or five and seventeen, that's about one sixth roughly. If
Speaker 1: we banned cars on roads in January and February, which
Speaker 1: is one sixth of any calendar year. The starts originally
Speaker 1: would suggest there were less accidents on the road. So
Speaker 1: if we're banning kids from tackling, then the stats will
Speaker 1: come down, won't they from injuries from tackling or concussions
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be? But in both cases, wouldn't
Speaker 1: they increase eventually? Because in terms of driving, new and
Speaker 1: young drivers would have less driving experience at key stages
Speaker 1: of their development as a driver. I think back to
Speaker 1: when you were you started as a driver, You really
Speaker 1: over analyzed every movement, didn't you. And I guess it's
Speaker 1: the same for kids when they're tackling. So if we
Speaker 1: stop them doing that for one sixth of their junior development,
Speaker 1: what's the impact that it's having? And I guess this
Speaker 1: brings up the quality of the Tackle Ready program that
Speaker 1: is being delivered in its stead in Australia. Now, again,
Speaker 1: if you've listened to me for a long time, you
Speaker 1: know I'm a supporter of tackle Ready, but I'm a
Speaker 1: supporter in theory I e depends who's delivering the program,
Speaker 1: And I've heard some it's gone from being and totally
Speaker 1: very positive too, very mixed over the years it's been done.
Speaker 1: So I think all these rules and theories are great
Speaker 1: in theory, but in reality are we seeing a sad reality?
Speaker 1: Here's what you said. Nando Smith on Facebook said totally agree.
Speaker 1: I can understand five year olds, but any age up
Speaker 1: from that they need to tackle, not teaching them to
Speaker 1: ron grab or stick out arm to get tag as
Speaker 1: it's easier to teach kids and get confidence in tackling
Speaker 1: early on, before kids get bigger, run harder, and actually
Speaker 1: know how to run into holes. Tackling is about technique, confidence, repetition,
Speaker 1: and practice and doing it correctly. Ley on Facebook, I
Speaker 1: can promise you it's not me twice. I think it's
Speaker 1: because they stopped allowing tackling in the younger age groups
Speaker 1: or sorry, he said, I one hundred percent think it's
Speaker 1: because they stopped allowing tackling in the underage groups. Trent
Speaker 1: Murray said could not agree more. Those years of the
Speaker 1: perfect time to teach technique while all aspects of the
Speaker 1: kid's game is developing. Jake Goward the Tackle Ready program
Speaker 1: is a joke. My son has just done it this
Speaker 1: year and they taught him nothing. The first week was
Speaker 1: to stop, drop and roll while being tackled. And now
Speaker 1: all these kids think that every kid is going to
Speaker 1: stop and drop as soon as they put a hand
Speaker 1: on him, and they don't need to use any force
Speaker 1: in the tackle to get the ball runner to the ground.
Speaker 1: If they want to teach the kids to tackle properly,
Speaker 1: actually put some time and effort into it instead of
Speaker 1: just ticking a box to make it look like they
Speaker 1: are doing something. I think the comment there from Jake
Speaker 1: is indicative of the tackle ready program very much relies
Speaker 1: on the quality of the tackle ready deliverer, of the teacher,
Speaker 1: of the coach. Jessica Barnes personally, I don't see the
Speaker 1: tag stroke tackle ready programmers adding value. I believe it's
Speaker 1: creating issues in the comeing gage groups of eight, nines
Speaker 1: and tens, with many players reaching tackle football without the
Speaker 1: confidence or ability to tackle effectively. The longer children play
Speaker 1: without tackling, the harder it can be to introduce a skill. Later,
Speaker 1: the players have developed a fear of contact or poor habits,
Speaker 1: making it more difficult to teach safe, effective tackling techniques.
Speaker 1: In my view, introducing tackling in a controlled, age appropriate
Speaker 1: way earlier would be better to prepare players, build confidence
Speaker 1: and reduce issues such as hesitation, poor technique, and jersey grabbing.
Speaker 1: Eddie Joyce tag football, in my opinion, teaches bad tackle technique.
Speaker 1: Kids only try to grab the tags using their arm,
Speaker 1: no shoulder, and no correct body positioning. I have coached
Speaker 1: junior rugby league for many years when tackling was done
Speaker 1: by all junior players, and in my experience, the kids
Speaker 1: adapted to tackle football as the norm with no problem
Speaker 1: or injury. Teach them when they begin playing the game.
Speaker 1: So all of those, I think support the hypothesis that's
Speaker 1: being thrown out there by myself. Nate Barton said, I'd
Speaker 1: say it's more a sign of the times. My son
Speaker 1: plays AIC in year five and one of the schools,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I see is in year five
Speaker 1: and one of the schools didn't even have a rugby side.
Speaker 1: All of the schools had four less outdoor play and
Speaker 1: more indoors play. Kids aren't as keen for contact as
Speaker 1: previous generations. Jovian Hadel said, personally, I think the tackle
Speaker 1: program tackle Ready program is great and the resources are excellent.
Speaker 1: It's never been easier or safer to learn how to
Speaker 1: tackle or coach it. But a lot of junior coaches
Speaker 1: already in inverted commas no footy close inverted commas and
Speaker 1: don't like the idea of conforming to the syllabus. They
Speaker 1: would rather spend time choreographing sets against no one attack
Speaker 1: is their focus. I completely agree with Jovian there in
Speaker 1: terms of the coaches that no footy in theory. I
Speaker 1: agree that it's been easier and never safer to learn
Speaker 1: how to tackle or coach it. And again I think
Speaker 1: it builds the the consensus that it's very much down
Speaker 1: to the tackle ready delivery. Now, I think this is
Speaker 1: the best reply coming up, and it didn't. It challenged
Speaker 1: my view basically, Jeremy Brower, this can be misleading and
Speaker 1: it got under six is tag all year. Under sevens
Speaker 1: is only six weeks TAG whilst completing tackle ready program
Speaker 1: at training. Think of it like a preseason focused on tackling.
Speaker 1: Then it's tackled for the rest of the season. I'll
Speaker 1: challenge little bits of this while we go along. Jeremy.
Speaker 1: It depends where you are on that depends how early
Speaker 1: the tackle ready guys get to you. I think, so
Speaker 1: I've seen it happen later in the year in many places,
Speaker 1: Jeremy says, most parent coaches struggled to teach proper tackle
Speaker 1: technique to five six year olds before these changes, and
Speaker 1: I haven't noticed much change in tackle development as what
Speaker 1: I had seen before. Okay, I've been coaching a group
Speaker 1: from under sixes when tackle Ready first started to now
Speaker 1: being in under nines. Some kids who've come all the
Speaker 1: way through are very confident and competent tacklers for their age.
Speaker 1: Others skip those first couple of years and played sports
Speaker 1: like soccer instead, and some of my best defenders others
Speaker 1: who started after those first two years, and some who've
Speaker 1: participated in the tackle Ready are still learning to get
Speaker 1: it right and maybe not as far along as others
Speaker 1: who've had different journeys so far. So Jeremy, that's good
Speaker 1: to hear. I believe that again that comes down to
Speaker 1: the tackle ready developer. But the other thing it also
Speaker 1: comes down to is the quality of the players that
Speaker 1: you've got. If you're in a strong rugby league area,
Speaker 1: then I think it's an easier job than if you're not.
Speaker 1: Quite frankly so that we probably need to provide some
Speaker 1: context when we're studying this, not that it was your
Speaker 1: duty to provide that. I'm just saying, like I said, mate,
Speaker 1: I think this is the best response, and he continues,
Speaker 1: There's so many other factors that come into play that
Speaker 1: dictator kids confidence and ability to tackle. Some kids just
Speaker 1: pick it up quickly and have the right nature for
Speaker 1: the kind of sport rugby league. Other kids it's not
Speaker 1: natural for them and takes more time. I think personally,
Speaker 1: the Tackle Ready program has been the best thing for
Speaker 1: junior coaches as the biggest thing I got from coaches
Speaker 1: in those mini age groups as they like the confidence
Speaker 1: themselves to teach correct and safe tackle technique, often due
Speaker 1: to not having played rugby league themselves and just being
Speaker 1: a parent who's putting their hand up to ensure the
Speaker 1: kids have a coach so they can get to play. Yes,
Speaker 1: I agree with that, mate. This program has offered them
Speaker 1: the chance to learn how to teach tackle themselves, which
Speaker 1: I think will be better for the game and junior
Speaker 1: development overall. Also worth noting that New Zealand has had
Speaker 1: progressions and tag tackle systems for many more years than us,
Speaker 1: and they've got one of the more successful sporting teams
Speaker 1: and a dominant and it dominates a global game like rugby,
Speaker 1: largely due to their junior development systems. NRL hasn't brought
Speaker 1: this on a whim and is based off a large
Speaker 1: swaye The studies an example across the globe in other
Speaker 1: sports that points it being better for a child's development.
Speaker 1: So I thanked him for his question, then asked him
Speaker 1: about the research and he sent me a link and
Speaker 1: I'll have a look at some of that research this week.
Speaker 1: By experience of the NRL's research, it's not necessarily the
Speaker 1: university level in many cases. So look, that was a
Speaker 1: great response from Jeremy. I think there's a few things
Speaker 1: that come from that. The tackle ready in programming theory
Speaker 1: is good. I think we all agree on that. It
Speaker 1: depends on the quality of how it's being delivered. But
Speaker 1: is it better than doing, than tackling, than playing the
Speaker 1: game in terms of repetition, Yes, it's covering a gap
Speaker 1: that was there. Many coaches struggled to deliver tackle technique.
Speaker 1: It comes down to coach education. Isn't it all this?
Speaker 1: So is it being done well enough? Is my question?
Speaker 1: The tackle Ready program. Tanika Marie said, my son did
Speaker 1: the tackle Ready program this year. My partner is the
Speaker 1: coach of his team. We quickly figured out that these drills,
Speaker 1: although it's all technique, did not prepare the kids for
Speaker 1: real life tackling on the field. We therefore had a
Speaker 1: lot of mock games a training bullrush with tackling, etc.
Speaker 1: Which did help prepare the kids to tackle and be tackled.
Speaker 1: So that sums up the direction on which I'm going.
Speaker 1: If you want to continue this conversation, please write to
Speaker 1: me admin at Rugby League coach dot com to tay
Speaker 1: you on the email at Rugby League Coach, on Instagram
Speaker 1: and Facebook send me a message on there. Coaches like
Speaker 1: to talk about systems, but systems are built from individual behaviors.
Speaker 1: They're from what the players bring to you, aren't they.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the individual principles that every rugby
Speaker 1: league player must master. And I think again. In their
Speaker 1: rush to get something resembling a team moving in the
Speaker 1: right direction, some coaches tend to brush past this player
Speaker 1: development thing quite frankly, and they talk too much about
Speaker 1: attack shaped block plays, sweeping movements, defensive systems, up and in,
Speaker 1: up and out shape Or is it systems that win
Speaker 1: games or is it players executing stuff. Think about this.
Speaker 1: If every player did all the little things right all
Speaker 1: the time, how good would you in inverted commas systems look?
Speaker 1: Because if they don't do anything very well, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what's on your whiteboard. Mate. Let's dive into some
Speaker 1: principles now that could help you. One of the biggest
Speaker 1: ignored things is that attack starts before you touch the ball.
Speaker 1: Once you've caught the ball, if you're making decisions after that,
Speaker 1: you've got less time. The best players have already made
Speaker 1: a big chunk of the decision before they receive the ball.
Speaker 1: And how have they done that? They scan constantly, they're
Speaker 1: looking up at the defensive line. And I always try
Speaker 1: and teach players who don't know how to do that.
Speaker 1: I try and structure how they look. I say, look
Speaker 1: to the left and scan across slowly to the right,
Speaker 1: looked at the right and scan depending on which side
Speaker 1: of the field or or what the context is. And
Speaker 1: then you've got to teach them what to look for.
Speaker 1: So how many defenders, so the numbers, how they're spaced,
Speaker 1: any tired defenders, any defenders turning in, So you're constantly
Speaker 1: collecting information. So something like Nathan Clear is a good
Speaker 1: decision maker. And it's not because he's lucky. He's always
Speaker 1: scanning Tom Diard and as I Yo, Teddy, my boy,
Speaker 1: the roosters fall back, James said Esco they see pictures
Speaker 1: before everyone else and it's that vision that helps them
Speaker 1: make the right decision. So are you teaching your players
Speaker 1: what to look for? Many coaches struggle with support players,
Speaker 1: working with the coach last week who struggled to get
Speaker 1: that across to his players. Many teams struggle with support
Speaker 1: play because of fitness levels, first of all, and it's
Speaker 1: also how it's taught, because it's not just about following
Speaker 1: the ball. It's about understanding but also being able to
Speaker 1: anticipate if there's an opportunity likely to happen. Now, that
Speaker 1: comes down to how you teach the game. If you're
Speaker 1: just telling your props, for example, just run, then nobody
Speaker 1: will support that prop, or if they do, it's just
Speaker 1: a like duty unless you teach them something like I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk about now. So if you would say
Speaker 1: team forwards in particular, or anybody really own the team,
Speaker 1: run as though you're going to bust through the line,
Speaker 1: so run to bust. Then that gets benefited by having
Speaker 1: people either side of the runner. If the runner themselves
Speaker 1: has the ball in two hands throws a little dummy,
Speaker 1: that run gets benefited because defenders hang back a little bit.
Speaker 1: And what the support runners have to do is run
Speaker 1: as though the ball is coming. They've got to look
Speaker 1: like they're going to get the ball if it doesn't,
Speaker 1: reload and go again. Now they need to have the discipline,
Speaker 1: the support runners to keep turning up even though they
Speaker 1: don't get a result for a while. So how do
Speaker 1: they get that? And like I said, like I hinted,
Speaker 1: just then, when you encourage your players to bring support
Speaker 1: with them, and if there's a chance that support might
Speaker 1: be used, i e. The ball carrier has the ball
Speaker 1: in two hands and could in theory pass left or right,
Speaker 1: defense just hangs back a little bit. If that runner
Speaker 1: goes up on their own carries the ball under the arm,
Speaker 1: defenders can just go into the ball carrier and put
Speaker 1: all their pressure on. Try in your training this week,
Speaker 1: three on three, send one against the three first, and
Speaker 1: then send three in in the way of just described.
Speaker 1: And the key to this is carrying the football properly.
Speaker 1: Carrying isn't just about being tough and just I've got
Speaker 1: to get the ball out of here. It's about creating
Speaker 1: problem for defenders as well. Every player should learn how
Speaker 1: to carry a ball in two hands, So even if
Speaker 1: they never pass it because they don't feel they can,
Speaker 1: they should have it in two hands. Once a player
Speaker 1: has a ball in two hands, the game changes for them.
Speaker 1: Even if they never pass or kick a ball, there
Speaker 1: is the chance that they may because they've got the
Speaker 1: ball in that position. You want all your players to
Speaker 1: hit an advantage line. If they're receiving the ball from
Speaker 1: dumbi half or for half, the advantage line is in
Speaker 1: line with the play the ball. You want them beyond that.
Speaker 1: Oh sorry, you want them to catch it on that
Speaker 1: and then running beyond that. Of course, if you're scooting
Speaker 1: the ball from dumby half, you need them to get
Speaker 1: past that advantage line. An attack, I think it's always
Speaker 1: a good idea to keep your hip square for as
Speaker 1: long as you can. So remember earlier we said attack
Speaker 1: starts before you receive the ball if you have a
Speaker 1: poor starting shape and run out. So for example, if
Speaker 1: you run forty five degrees across rather than you've started
Speaker 1: a bit wider from the rook and you just run
Speaker 1: straight the first one I've just described if you're running across,
Speaker 1: and that allows defenders to track you across and maybe
Speaker 1: tackle you inside your rib cage. If you're wider and straight,
Speaker 1: you're absouly going directly at defenders and they've got no
Speaker 1: option but to worry about defending you. And then before
Speaker 1: you get there, you're going to be going in with
Speaker 1: the most force. You're going to be going forward, whereas
Speaker 1: if you run forty five degrees one way or the other,
Speaker 1: for example, you're going to be taking your force away,
Speaker 1: so you're a bit more susceptible. You get to the
Speaker 1: line new you subtle footwork, and I always tell players
Speaker 1: to go from badge to badge on somebody's shirt. So
Speaker 1: if you're looking at this this is a clip now
Speaker 1: on a video, you'll see I've got a lizard's badge
Speaker 1: and then the maker jade on the other side. So
Speaker 1: you'd step badge to badge, or to put in two
Speaker 1: steps to go badge to badge back to badge to
Speaker 1: put the defender off balance. And then of course when
Speaker 1: you're going into collision, you need to bring the ball
Speaker 1: into your body a bit later, so push it against
Speaker 1: a peck or above a peck and if you need
Speaker 1: to wrap it up or use your other arm to defend.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite coaching sayings, and I heard this
Speaker 1: as a player, and I've repeated it a thousand times.
Speaker 1: Fine spaces, not faces. Too many young players run straight
Speaker 1: at defenders. Indeed, I started doing that when I played,
Speaker 1: whereas elite players attacked a create space or to manipulate
Speaker 1: defenders before they get tackled. Both in attack and defense,
Speaker 1: winning contact isn't the start, isn't the end. It's the start,
Speaker 1: and it's the beginning of the next play. And when
Speaker 1: you're attacking, it's winning the collision, driving your legs, fighting
Speaker 1: for every centimeter, and making smart post contact decisions. I've
Speaker 1: always felt that in that time when you're in the collision,
Speaker 1: you're dealing in milliseconds. And this is why props get
Speaker 1: better as they age and they peek a little bit
Speaker 1: later athletically twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, because in
Speaker 1: that split second, they need to decide if they're going
Speaker 1: to bust through, if they're not going to bust through.
Speaker 1: Is there an opportunity to offload to a teammate If
Speaker 1: they can't do either of those two things, they need
Speaker 1: to get down to play the ball quickly, and they've
Speaker 1: got to decide all that bang bang like that, and
Speaker 1: quite often the quickest player the ball is often valuable
Speaker 1: and more valuable to a team than another two meters
Speaker 1: where you've dragged your legs. And again that comes down
Speaker 1: to your coaching. Are you coaching the team or you're
Speaker 1: allowing individuals to dictate how your team shape looks. I
Speaker 1: mean all these things I'm saying right now, can you
Speaker 1: imagine the impact it has on your team patterns. Players
Speaker 1: carrying the ball with two hands, making decisions, put in
Speaker 1: opposition off balance when they run the football. It would
Speaker 1: have a massive impact. And then once we've done all
Speaker 1: this once, guess what we need to do is the
Speaker 1: biggest difference between elite players and average players, and elite
Speaker 1: teams and average teams. As soon as you've done that
Speaker 1: job that you've got to do, you don't sit there
Speaker 1: and marrying new work. You get ready for the next one.
Speaker 1: Effort doesn't happen occasionally, it becomes a habit, and that
Speaker 1: brings us to defense. Many coaches think defense is tackling.
Speaker 1: Tackling is part of it. Before you even think of tackling,
Speaker 1: you've got communication. You need to be loud, clear and connected,
Speaker 1: and a quiet defensive line is often a broken one.
Speaker 1: Communication gives everybody in the team some time to think
Speaker 1: because they know they've got a mate with them before
Speaker 1: the tackle. We need our line integrity. We need to
Speaker 1: be connected. We need to know when to move in,
Speaker 1: when to move out. We need to know how to
Speaker 1: work with the defenders either side of us. Defense isn't
Speaker 1: about six individual tackles. Is It is about sections of
Speaker 1: thirteen people trying to solve the same problem together quite frankly,
Speaker 1: so it's not about tackling. It's not just about tackling.
Speaker 1: We've not got to tackling yet. We're going to get
Speaker 1: there now. Then you've got to try and win your
Speaker 1: contact in defense. I was working with a set of
Speaker 1: coaches last week and one coach said, I remember again,
Speaker 1: he's a coach. I meantor shouted out to a play
Speaker 1: a great contact, But what that player did after that
Speaker 1: was just let the attacker go and the attackle played
Speaker 1: the ball, grate and quickly. Winning the contact is one part.
Speaker 1: Try and dominate it. If it's a passive tackle, there's
Speaker 1: got to be the strongest passive tackle you can do.
Speaker 1: And then once you've done that, though that's only the
Speaker 1: start of the tackle, because then it's to be a
Speaker 1: second effort in there, doesn't it. You've got to get
Speaker 1: some control of that play the ball, and the tackle
Speaker 1: isn't technically finished from your point of view until your
Speaker 1: defense is set. I didn't say anything about the referee.
Speaker 1: I didn't say anything about the referee's interpretation of what
Speaker 1: you're doing in there from your point of view as
Speaker 1: a player. So the way you operate what I call
Speaker 1: effort too in the tackle. So effort one is the hit,
Speaker 1: Effort two is everything else. It's massive. Now have you
Speaker 1: noticed so far, I've not set once said one thing
Speaker 1: about strategy. It's all in you will work an individual approaches.
Speaker 1: I've got a couple of others. Middle players set the standard,
Speaker 1: don't they in every team? Have you noticed everybody in
Speaker 1: the middle, your forward, your props, your second roles. I suppose,
Speaker 1: depending on the way you structure your team. I mean
Speaker 1: they're often referred to as edges now, but you definitely
Speaker 1: in your middle. You've probably got your props, your lock,
Speaker 1: and you and your hooker sorry loose forward for those
Speaker 1: who don't know what a lock is, say lock in England,
Speaker 1: they think you're talking about a pad lot. Don't those
Speaker 1: middle guys determine the personality of your team. They should
Speaker 1: own the middle of the field, shouldn't they, regardless of
Speaker 1: how you play. And again on this podcast, I always
Speaker 1: talk about don't just go down the middle of the
Speaker 1: field all the time. Still get stupid comments on social
Speaker 1: other people who can't think laterally, you still need to
Speaker 1: own the middle even if you don't play it down
Speaker 1: the middle. If your middle players work harder than the
Speaker 1: opposition ninety nine times that ninety nine times out of
Speaker 1: one hundred, everything comes easier for the rest of your team.
Speaker 1: Quite often it's the edge players that can win all
Speaker 1: lose you the game. Quite often it's the wingers, the centers,
Speaker 1: and the edge back rowers, maybe even your full back
Speaker 1: that in attack they need to understand the shape to
Speaker 1: finish the plays quite often, but in defense if they
Speaker 1: get something wrong, if they come out of the line
Speaker 1: too quickly, turn in watch the NRLN and see how
Speaker 1: many players rush in from the edges and leave space
Speaker 1: on the outside. They can win or lose your game
Speaker 1: of football on those edges. So The biggest message I
Speaker 1: want to leave you all from this section is I've
Speaker 1: just talked about a load of principles, individual principles there.
Speaker 1: I've not once mentioned a system. Most coaches go to
Speaker 1: the system first and the principles either never or when
Speaker 1: it's too late. You need to coach your players. You
Speaker 1: need to teach them how to scan and carry, support, communicate, reload,
Speaker 1: how to tackle, how to control a ruck individual excellence. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, the more time you spend coaching individuals,
Speaker 1: the more they'll buy into the team ethos and it
Speaker 1: will create a collective excellence. Don't worry, we haven't finished
Speaker 1: the podcast yet, or I just want to say at
Speaker 1: this juncture, thanks for listening to this latest episode of
Speaker 1: the Rugby League Coach Podcast. Is there any chance, and
Speaker 1: I never asked you to do this, you could write
Speaker 1: a review somewhere on Facebook or wherever you want, or
Speaker 1: send me an email, or at the very least, can
Speaker 1: you just share this with one other coach or put
Speaker 1: it in your group chat of coaches. Can you do
Speaker 1: that just to help grow the pod? And as you know,
Speaker 1: because I say it a thousand times, you can find
Speaker 1: thousands of coaching resources at my WEBA website Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach dot com. But tay you, but this podcast and
Speaker 1: everything that we do at Rugby League Coaches design to
Speaker 1: help you keep coaching, keep learning, and keep helping players
Speaker 1: become the best version of themselves. I've helped several places
Speaker 1: and clubs over the years to putting long term player
Speaker 1: development plans at clubs, and some of you may have
Speaker 1: forgotten or don't know. I've created almost some scratch, two
Speaker 1: of the biggest rugby league schools in Australia right now,
Speaker 1: and the success of several other programs that have done
Speaker 1: in the past is there for all to see. But
Speaker 1: now I do that as a consultant for so many
Speaker 1: places too, and some of them will bear fruit in
Speaker 1: the coming years. And I work with clubs grassroots to elite.
Speaker 1: Every club that is successful for longer than a season
Speaker 1: has a sustainable plan for the future that they've either
Speaker 1: been working on for a few years or they're about
Speaker 1: to have work on. Every club that fails or has
Speaker 1: no plan tends to have its leadership changing every five
Speaker 1: minutes or every year at least, and the wheel keeps
Speaker 1: getting reinvented. Have a think a six year old now
Speaker 1: if they keep playing, they should be in twenty years,
Speaker 1: twenty six, twenty one, twenty seven, twenty one years, twenty seven,
Speaker 1: et cetera. That's their athletic and footballing peak. How many
Speaker 1: of you out there think that long when it comes
Speaker 1: to developing players. There's something I've done for a long time,
Speaker 1: and I know it gets results, and it gets your
Speaker 1: results at recruiting heavily season can't What often happens with
Speaker 1: clubs that recruit heavily for one season They run out
Speaker 1: of money if they win too many games and then
Speaker 1: either go bust or scrap around trying to find some
Speaker 1: more money. Last week I told jos In Letton at
Speaker 1: Yanko Womon Hawks. I even got the the Y and
Speaker 1: the W mixed up on last week's podcast and called
Speaker 1: them Wanco your moon. And I did a seminar for
Speaker 1: the coaches and a clinic where I mentored the coaches
Speaker 1: to deliver. We've had over fifty five kids there, fifteen
Speaker 1: coaches at the seminar. None of them paid a thing.
Speaker 1: So if you want that for your area, please reach out.
Speaker 1: Here's what people said about the coaches night, Nick who
Speaker 1: gave me this jumper that I'm wearing right now from
Speaker 1: the Andre Lizards. Lizards sent of review saying I've been
Speaker 1: coaching for twelve years now, and the way Lee broke
Speaker 1: down just basic games and drills and even the tactics
Speaker 1: in one session was amazing. I wish I'd been to
Speaker 1: this before I started coaching. Thanks for coming way out here.
Speaker 1: So what Nick's talking about there is on the clinic
Speaker 1: he coached. I said to him, coach, there was a
Speaker 1: section I said, coach, whatever you're comfortable with. Said that
Speaker 1: to all the coaches. Coach whatever you're comfortable with, and
Speaker 1: I'll come around and give you some ways to improve it.
Speaker 1: And he yea is like that. Jason from wangkoh Ya Moon,
Speaker 1: I've just done it again, Yanko Wa moon Hawks. Jason
Speaker 1: from the Yanko Wah moon Hawks. Did I just get
Speaker 1: get them mixed up again? Anyway? He said? I thoroughly
Speaker 1: enjoyed the coaches night. The evening was extremely positive, engaging,
Speaker 1: and beneficial for me as someone looking to develop my
Speaker 1: coaching skills again. Valuable knowledge about what it takes to
Speaker 1: be an effective coach, including how to communicate with players,
Speaker 1: bill confidence, and create a positive learning environmentally as knowledgeable
Speaker 1: approachable and shared practical advice that I can apply straight away.
Speaker 1: Session was well organized and provided a great opportunity to
Speaker 1: learn from other coaches and connect with others who are
Speaker 1: passionate about sport and development. I left feeling more confident,
Speaker 1: motivated and inspired to continue my journey as a coach.
Speaker 1: I would highly recommend it to any club, coach or
Speaker 1: volunteer looking to further their coaching knowledge and making a
Speaker 1: positive impact on their players. Thank you for a fantastic evening.
Speaker 1: So that's what happened last week. I want to hear
Speaker 1: from anybody passionate out there about growing rugby league in
Speaker 1: the country and in remote areas, and anyone who thinks
Speaker 1: in those areas we need more support, more coaching, more
Speaker 1: coach support, indeed anyway including the city. I just want
Speaker 1: to hear from anyone I've dealt with in the past,
Speaker 1: and if you're in the following area Sussex in Orange, Tormina,
Speaker 1: coffs Arbor, Woggle, Wogga, Parks, Port, McQuary, Portland, Central table
Speaker 1: Lands in general, Wumba, Clarence Valley, now Rah, South Coast, Tweedheads,
Speaker 1: Queen Beean, Meadoway call It Port Stephens, Olbury, Banara Points
Speaker 1: and Northern Rivers, all those in New South Wales. If
Speaker 1: you in any of those areas, I definitely want to
Speaker 1: hear from you. Queenslanders, Cairnes, your Anger, Tougum, p Albert,
Speaker 1: anywhere in Harvey Bay, anyone in the Fraser Coast region, Mackay,
Speaker 1: Morton Bay, Belmore, Luckier Valley, Murphy's Creek, Hamilton Island and
Speaker 1: which Sundays. If you're near or in any of those areas,
Speaker 1: I encourage you to get in touch. Admin at Rugby
Speaker 1: League Coach dot com. Dot au is the email at
Speaker 1: Rugby League Coach on Instagram and Facebook if you want
Speaker 1: to send a message every week, I say to you
Speaker 1: as a coach, what you let go is what you allow.
Speaker 1: What you walk past is what you allow. I've got
Speaker 1: so many offers on right now, I don't even know
Speaker 1: how many I've got, and what a fifty thirty. I'll
Speaker 1: give you a little secret. If you like what you
Speaker 1: hear on this podcast, you want more of it and
Speaker 1: more of it tailored to your needs. Now is the
Speaker 1: time because there's lots of offers on and if you
Speaker 1: can't find them, just message me and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: it and I'll offer you something mentoring. You don't have
Speaker 1: to pay the full whack unless you win if you
Speaker 1: reach a goal that we set together, so you can
Speaker 1: pay a small retainer now for the rest of this year.
Speaker 1: We set a target together, we'll have a conversation and
Speaker 1: I'll give you an offer and say, right, small retainer. Now,
Speaker 1: if we reach this target together, you pay up and
Speaker 1: we don't do it unless we both agree. So that's
Speaker 1: coach mentoring for the rest of the year. If you're keen,
Speaker 1: if you want a better price for next year as well,
Speaker 1: get in touch. That's one on one mentoring from me,
Speaker 1: directly from me to you. One of the best coaches
Speaker 1: I've ever mentored actually won a comp a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. He came onto the program. This way okay.
Speaker 1: In terms of online stuff, you can get a Coach
Speaker 1: membership now for a year for ninety nine dollars half
Speaker 1: price yearly. Full access is thirty percent off of think
Speaker 1: so full access you get the strength and conditioning, the
Speaker 1: player content. Full access for lifetime is cheaper than it
Speaker 1: was everything Rugby League Coach and the courses website, which
Speaker 1: is worth over one thousand dollars. You can get that
Speaker 1: for under half price now and there's also a package
Speaker 1: there where there's mentoring and online for no when here
Speaker 1: what it's normally worth. So get in touch admin at
Speaker 1: Rugby League Coach dot com to tau is the email
Speaker 1: at Rugby League Coach on Socials Super League three sixty
Speaker 1: podcasts that will come out a little bit later this week.
Speaker 1: And when I say a little bit later, it could
Speaker 1: be literally a bit later today as John was unable
Speaker 1: to record our usual time, but he's getting into position
Speaker 1: where he might be able to. What you'll also get
Speaker 1: if you're listening to the podcast on the Monday, the
Speaker 1: twenty seventh of July is it's come out a bit
Speaker 1: later today. You'll be able to get the Loose Carry
Speaker 1: podcasts from Zero Tackle and you'll see I do a
Speaker 1: coach's corner analysis on there, and this week I'm studying wings.
Speaker 1: I also do a weekly column for Zero Tackle at
Speaker 1: zero tackle dot com. Two. For the last section of
Speaker 1: this podcast, I want to step away now from game plans, topols,
Speaker 1: a tax shaped, defense systems and everything else. Want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about something that's more important and what
Speaker 1: coaching is really about. If I asked one hundred coaches,
Speaker 1: what is coaching about? Many would probably say winning games,
Speaker 1: developing better players, or teaching skills. It took me almost
Speaker 1: twenty years to come up with this answer, so I'm
Speaker 1: not preaching. I'm not lecturing at all. I am talking
Speaker 1: from experience. As soon as I realized that rugby league,
Speaker 1: or any sport that we coach, is simply the vehicle
Speaker 1: we used to help develop people in general, I became
Speaker 1: a different coach. So that's the focus, developing people, helping people.
Speaker 1: Rugby League's only the vehicle. Every training session, you have,
Speaker 1: team meeting, talk conversation, every match, every interaction, you're influencing
Speaker 1: someone's life, and you're influencing in many cases, young lives.
Speaker 1: And in all cases you're probably older than the players,
Speaker 1: so even the adults are looking up to you. I
Speaker 1: can only talk from a male point of view, but
Speaker 1: I'd hate to be judged on the person I was
Speaker 1: when I was thirty and under. I think it was
Speaker 1: lads and mature a little bit later, don't we. And
Speaker 1: that means that the players in your team, even if
Speaker 1: you're coaching adults, will not be getting everything right in life,
Speaker 1: even if they present as the most mature people. So
Speaker 1: you're influencing their lives and everything you do, and it's
Speaker 1: a big responsibility. And as coaches, we often understand underestimate
Speaker 1: how much influence we actually have. In places like America,
Speaker 1: and I know certainly in some of the Pacific Islands,
Speaker 1: the coach is held up in the highest esteem, the
Speaker 1: good coach. That is. We often underestimate how much influence
Speaker 1: we have. A comment you made to somebody after training,
Speaker 1: five minutes spent talking to a player believing in someone
Speaker 1: when they don't believe in themselves. These are the things
Speaker 1: that matter. Players don't remember drills, but they rarely forget
Speaker 1: how they feel when they're at their football setting under
Speaker 1: their coach and their coaches instruction, not literally under their coach.
Speaker 1: So we could argue we've got coaching backwards some of us, well,
Speaker 1: look I did this, you know when I started, I
Speaker 1: thought it was about providing answers. But coaches are actually
Speaker 1: educators and teachers, aren't They Their job is to create learning,
Speaker 1: and sometimes that means not just telling players what to do,
Speaker 1: it's to help them discover the answer. Even if you
Speaker 1: would struggle with your content and your knowledge of the game.
Speaker 1: If you feel you've got loads of improvement in you.
Speaker 1: Just try this this week. Just say to players, what
Speaker 1: did you say when we did such and such, what
Speaker 1: other options were they? Why did you make that decision?
Speaker 1: And do it from a place of collaboration, not from
Speaker 1: why did you make that decision? And ask how could
Speaker 1: we approach that problem differently? And listen to what your
Speaker 1: players say, because when they own it, when they own
Speaker 1: the answers, the learning lasts longer, but it will also
Speaker 1: teach you, and it will teach you what they're saying.
Speaker 1: Some of the best coaches I've had in my life
Speaker 1: I still remember today, not because of what they taught
Speaker 1: me technically, but it's how they treated people, the relationships
Speaker 1: that build, the care, the time they listened, the challenges
Speaker 1: they brought, the support. Players don't always need coaching. Sometimes
Speaker 1: I just need somebody who believes in them, somebody to
Speaker 1: pick them up after they've failed, or somebody who raised
Speaker 1: their expectations. If I had a dollar or a pound
Speaker 1: for every time I heard the word culture culture around
Speaker 1: rugby league clubs in the last decade, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: doing this podcast. I'd be on a beach somewhere. I
Speaker 1: say that I don't live too far from beaches. I
Speaker 1: could be on a beach today if I wanted. But
Speaker 1: you get my point. Culture isn't what you write on
Speaker 1: a poster. It's about what leaders. And by leaders, I
Speaker 1: don't just mean coaches. I mean everybody who's got some
Speaker 1: leading capability. And you can lead without a title. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you. It's about what you consistently promote, what's tolerated,
Speaker 1: what's reinforced. What you let go is what you allow.
Speaker 1: What you walk past is what you allow. If you
Speaker 1: let post standards occur, that's your culture. If there's reward
Speaker 1: for effort, that's your culture. If you ignore selfish behavior,
Speaker 1: that's your culture. Players are a lot smarter and listen
Speaker 1: more than we think they do. Most players turn up
Speaker 1: at training and see it as a battle that they've
Speaker 1: got to win in their head, right, so there mentally
Speaker 1: attuned to take in everything that's going on to survive
Speaker 1: that session. And the standard that you walk past is
Speaker 1: a standard you accept. Most of the players you coach
Speaker 1: will never play professional rugby league, but every one of
Speaker 1: them at some point will become an adult. Even the
Speaker 1: thirty year olds, at some point they'll become an adult.
Speaker 1: They'll become a workmate, they'll become a husband or a
Speaker 1: wife or a partner, or they'll become a parent. One
Speaker 1: thing they definitely will become an r already as a
Speaker 1: community member. So if you're only thinking about producing football
Speaker 1: as we're missing the bigger picture, aren't we We've got
Speaker 1: to develop all the things that contribute to somebody being
Speaker 1: a good workmate, husband, wife, father, mother, partner or Rugby
Speaker 1: league is the vehicle that we've been given to deliver
Speaker 1: all these things and to help all these things. Success
Speaker 1: that you achieve might just be a player who stays involved,
Speaker 1: who stays out of jail. It might be a young
Speaker 1: person who learned some resilience after a setback. It might
Speaker 1: be somebody who wants to coach in the future. Might
Speaker 1: be somebody who wants to be a teacher, a police officer,
Speaker 1: a parent, anybody who you help to make a positive
Speaker 1: contribution to society. You won't be judged on these things,
Speaker 1: but in your heart you'll know. I often say, out
Speaker 1: of all the NRL players that I've ended up coaching,
Speaker 1: the Super League players and everything else, one player who
Speaker 1: I think is my eye classes my biggest success story played.
Speaker 1: You got a contractor an narrow club, played some state
Speaker 1: league and now he's just a great bloke with a
Speaker 1: young family. When I met him, he was in all sorts.
Speaker 1: So are you developing footballers or you developing people as well?
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, guys to another episode of the Rugby
Speaker 1: League Coach podcast. Let's keep raising the standard together. If
Speaker 1: today's episode resonated with you, please share it with another coach.
Speaker 1: You know I love your work. Take care,