Former Super Rugby Winning coach with the Bulls, Assistant coach of the Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels and current Southern Districts Head Coach Todd Louden joined us on the pod to chat all things rugby.

We jumped right into the thick of it hearing about his approach to coaching and the importance of building connection and caring for people and immersing yourself in the culture you are in.

Todd's experiences from School, Shute Shield, Japan South Africa and in Super Rugby across 3 teams shines through and his approach to people and the Tactical Periodisation of Training / Coaching at Southern districts is a great insight into his combination of experience and research that forms his coaching style.

Warringah Rats Head coach MIchael 'Rivo' Ruthven is on the this Pod talking about his path from Aus 16s, 19s and 21s, Shute Shield, NPC, Country Rugby and then into his coaching career at the club he loves. 

We dove into the art of coaching where imperfect is sometimes perfect and the importance of creating situations that players can react to and learn from, building a great coaching group around you as a coach as well as some great rugby stories. 

We sit down with Current Sydney Uni Head Coach, Former Melbourne Rebels, Kobe Steelers, Kyuden Voltex, Kinetsu Liners, Reds and National Academy coach and all round good human, Sean Hedger. 

We chatted through his journey from growing up in Darwin, a decade in Japan and all his Professional Coaching experiences. 

Loved this chat as we dived into respecting the culture and DNA of the club your coaching, the massive importance of sharing to develop learning as a coach, the need for coaches to work with and learn from senior players and what he's building at Sydney Uni ahead of season 2022.

Back from a long break we've restarted with a slightly different podcast with Head of Talent Management Andrew Cleverley and Pathways Coach and Manager Matt Evrard. While we focus on the talent pathway in NSW this has some great coaching content in here as well. We talk everything from the pathway ins and outs to what parents, coaches and up and coming players should be focusing on their on to give themselves the best chance of becoming a great rugby player.

This is a great insight into the where and how the future of the Waratahs will be created and the people behind the scenes driving the future. We'll be doing a female focused pathway podcast soon.

Randwick Rugby Head Coach Ben McCormack opens up about his coaching journey from Development Officer to Director of Rugby roles in Brisbane and Sydney and now to Randwick. 

We got a great insight into how Ben looks at the coaching and the focus on the individual as well as his process for breaking things down and how he uses the hard moments to find the learnings. 

We talked about his game based approach to coaching as well as some nuance in moving away from that for some technical elements of the game. 

Former Waratahs Coach, Current Gordon coach and one of the most free thinking coaching mavericks around Brian "Billy" Melrose joined us for a really entertaining chat about his life and coaching career.  We hear all about growing up with his Wallaby and Waratah brothers in Western Sydney, playing for Parramatta and being around and constantly being influenced by success - Something which Billy has consistently been able to bring to teams that were struggling and turn them around into genuine contenders. There is some fantastic stories and his Maverick approach at the Tahs is a great story of what’s possible if you open yourself up to new ideas.  His experience as a coach in both hemispheres coaching hasn't always been an easy ride and his insights into coaching and how he approaches it gave us a super enjoyable pod, so much so that we went way over the normal time. Great listen from another character of the game

This week we have a character of the game Michael Doyle who has lived and breathed the game over the last 50 years. He has been the Wallabies manager, coached Eastern Suburbs 1st grade (and every other grade in the club), been Coach Education and Community RUgby Manager and is currently the Manager for 7s across NSW. 

We talked about his coaching and playing career, the State 7s Championships which is happening the week the pod is released and we dove into his challenges with Mental Health.

What is loud and clear is his passion for the game but also the importance of the people and love and energy required to be a great coach

We chat with Norths Head Coach Zak Beer about his coaching path from coaching his younger brothers teams at the Seaforth Raiders as a 16 year old right through to working with Samoan legend Earl Va'a and into the Head coach job at Northern Suburbs.

We get a glimpse of the journey for a coach without a playing background and the time effort and commitment that he throws at every coaching opportunity whether it's 3rd Grade Colts or 1st Grade Shute Shield.

This is a great insight into how Zak has built his career as an up and coming coach and on the importance of the relationship and input of the players into creating successful teams year after year