In this episode I speak with David Shillington. Dave played Rugby League in the amazing Queensland era alongside the likes of Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Jonathan Thurston to name a few and was coached by Mal Meninga one of Queensland’s greats. He also had a distinguished NRL career with the Sydney Roosters, Canberra Raiders and Gold Coast Titans. Dave discusses the anxiety he dealt with as an up and coming player in the NRL and some of the coaches who led him on his path to...

In this episode of the coach doctor podcast, I speak to Associate Professor Andrew Bennie. Andrew’s PhD research investigated effective coaching in professional sport contexts. From the research, he developed an effective coaching model which includes three core components: (1) the coach and their personal characteristics and philosophy; (2) coaching skills such as leadership, communication, planning and people management, and (3) the environment which should be positive and have a strong...

In this episode I talk with Tom Carter the current head of physical performance with the Australian Women’s Rugby 7’s team. In this episode we discuss Toms transition from a professional rugby player into his current role in 7’s. We discuss the way Tom was perceived as a player for the NSW Waratahs and how that has shaped his professional career after rugby and we also look into Tom’s association with other sports such as Cricket and how we as coaches can learn from other sports. Despite the...

In Part 2 we discuss Super VUCA coaches, discuss one of Brian’s inspirational heroes and talk about the road to the World Cup final with England in 2007 and hear about Brian’s forays into other sports such as cricket Netball and Premier League Football. Brian has a had a wealth of experiences in sport, especially rugby union but one of the key aspects to Brian’s development was the transformation into a player centred coach and the ability to keep learning throughout his career as a...

In Part 1 of this episode I speak to Brian Ashton. Former coach of Bath Rugby Club and the England national Rugby team and now very much a renowned figure in coach education. Brian discusses his initial introduction to rugby, his transformation from an autocratic coach in his early days as a strict schoolteacher into a democratic player centered coach. Brian touches on his experiences during a career of coaching, including the clash of the codes when England's strongest Rugby Club Bath played...

Matt is a former NRL head Coach with the Canberra Raiders, Penrtith Panthers and NZ Warriors and is currently working in a leadership and assistant coaching role with the St George Dragons. He has also started a business called the Changeroom which we will discuss during the podcast but this is essentially a place that helps people recover from both physical and mental injuries and ill health. Some of the key take aways I got from the discussion with Matt were the importance in developing...

In this episode I talk to former NRL hard man Ben the boss Cross. Ben has had a distinguished career playing at three NRL clubs, playing in two NRL grand finals and winning one and a state of Origin series with the NSW Blues. Towards the end of his career Ben took up coaching roles whilst playing in the north of England before returning to Australia and working on the development pathway with the Newcastle knights and the NSW Blues Women’s Origin team. Ben was later offered an assistant...

In this episode I talk to Daryl Gibson. Daryl is a former New Zealand All Black and Super Rugby Champion with the Canterbury Crusaders. More recently Daryl has held the role as head Coach of the NSW Waratahs before stepping down after a losing season. Daryl has gone on to research what elite teams do during a losing streak and his findings are brilliant. Whilst there is a plethora of research into successful teams and cultures, the originality of Daryl’s work looking at how to successfully...

In this episode I chat with Jack Rolfe who is the owner of the Coaching Lab – a business that aims to provide coaches at all levels with tools and resources to improve their coaching, especially within games. One of the resources the Coaching Lab offers are match play cards – a set of cards with a variety of both team and individual challenges that you can apply to coaching in game settings. We discuss a few examples and how they may be utilised in the training environment. Another cool...

In this episode I talk with Melbourne Rebels player Cameron Orr. We discuss his pathway to becoming an elite athlete and the importance of athlete journaling to help achieve those smaller goals or the 1%’s that add up to greater benefits over the long run. Cameron also talks about the importance of team journaling and how this can assist team performance by keeping teammates accountable to group goals. More recently Cameron started a business with Waratahs player Carlo Tizzano called ‘Elite...

In this episode I speak to newly appointed Australian Wallaroos Coach Jay Tregonning. We discuss the team’s preparation leading into a world cup year and the growth and development of women’s rugby union in Australia. Some of the key takeaways for me were that coaching a national team requires a lot of preparation so managing time around family and fulltime work commitments is really important. Balancing a teaching career with coaching a national team provides some hurdles and Jay has put...

This is a story of adaptation involving changing countries, languages, cultures and sports in a very demanding environment. Nico has just finished up a role with Chinese Rowing culminating with his team’s performances at the Olympic games in Tokyo. Originating from the north of Italy and completing his PhD in Sports Science at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. His background lay in Rugby Union, but he was given the chance to work with the Chinese Olympic Program and found...

Jamie Feeney is a former NRL player who played for both the Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm during very successful periods in both club’s histories. He was coached by Steve Folkes and Criag Bellamy, two of Rugby Leagues most successful coaches. Jamie gives us an insight into the culture of both clubs after being involved in back to back Grand final seasons. Following his playing career Jamie moved into coaching roles. Initially with the Melbourne Storms pathway program and then as the...

Jim is the current Queensland Reds Attack coach and was instrumental in both the Queensland Reds Super Rugby championship season of 2011 in his first stint with the club and this year in 2021 in his second stint with the club. Jim has also been the attack coach for the Wallabies and Head Coach of many clubs in the UK and Japan. Like some of my other guests Jim stands out for his passion to learn and further his knowledge – he has a Masters of Education in Sports Coaching and has published two...

After having a successful rugby union playing career with NSW Country and the Australian Wallaroo’s Alana then moved into coaching. Moving to Melbourne she worked with the Melbourne Unicorns club and was awarded the Australian Rugby Union Community coach of the year in 2017 before taking on the head coaching role with the Melbourne Rebels Super W side in their inaugural season. Alana has focused on developing a strong team culture with the slogan "a Rebel like her" being a daily attribute...

Professor Shane Pill from Flinders University in South Australia is one of the leading experts and researchers in coaching and sports education. He was recently awarded the Presidents Award by the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation for distinguished service to the profession. In Part 2 of this interview we discuss the power of games to develop a fully engaged athlete and the role game sense plays in Australian physical education and coaching. To engage with...

Professor Shane Pill from Flinders University in South Australia is one of the leading experts and researchers in coaching and sports education. He was recently awarded the Presidents Award by the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation for distinguished service to the profession. Shane discusses his transition from a physical education teacher in the 1980’s to his role researching coaching pedagogies and specifically the game sense approach to coaching and teaching...

On this episode my guest is Gina Haddad, Gina is an expert and published academic in the area of athlete leadership and has worked with and researched leadership groups in many team sports. She has studied leadership groups within Super Rugby, NRL, AFL, Football and International rugby union and has previously held positions as a High-Performance Consultant and education manager with Equestrian Australia. She is a lecturer and leadership and culture facilitator. The main take points from this...

In this episode I chat with Associate Professor Wilbur Kraak from the Sports Science faculty at Stellenbosch University on the Western Cape of South Africa. We discuss using academic literature in an applied coaching setting, using performance analysis as a tool to assist your coaching and the state of South African Rugby after the COVID 19 Pandemic interrupted community sport for almost two years. If you would like to hear more from Wilbur you can follow him on twitter and instagram...

In Episode 5 I chat with Tim Rowland. Tim is a championship winning Strength and Conditioning coach who has a background in physiotherapy. Tim discusses how his background in physiotherapy has made him a better Strength and Conditioning coach. His ability in managing athletic performance and also developing state of the art rehab and prehab programs for players returning from injury. Most recently Tim played a large role in the preparation of the Gordon’s Highlanders Rugby Clubs first...

In this episode I chat with John Novak who is widely known as Australia’s No. 1 Sports Mindset coach with his athletes quickly reaching National and International success at World Championships and Olympics. John is currently Head Mindset Coach for the Manly Sea-Eagles-NRL team in Australia. He has worked with hundreds of elite athletes and teams in 38 different sports. More recently he worked with Olympians Melissa Wu Commonwealth Gold Medallist and Olympic Bronze in the 10m Platform Diving...

In this episode I interview Olympic Sprint and Jump Coach Andrew Murphy. Andrew is a triple Olympian representing Australia at the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens games as a Triple Jumper. More recently Andrew has returned from Tokyo after coaching Rohan Browning, Australia's fastest man. In this interview we discuss the differences in roles as an athlete to a coach, the training requirements of an Olympic level athlete and the team work that goes into a sport such as Track and Field. Despite all...

In this episode I speak to Sean Irvine from Inside Motivation. Sean's area of expertise are in team building and team effectiveness. Sean discusses the 6 conditions of team effectvieness which can be related to sporting teams and business teams. Sean can be contacted on +61(0)419 477 271 or via the contact us page on insidemotivation.com.au

In this episode I talked to Beth Whaanga one of only five Level 3 Rugby Coaches in Australia. We discussed the gender issues in coaching, working with both male and female athletes, learning from peers and becoming a leader to other women in the male dominated rugby coaching space. We also discussed Beth's background working with indigenous athletes and her participation at the AIS High Performance Coaching Talent Program.