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Jonathan Crawley (JC) is a sports physiotherapist who I graduated with during our undergrad program at James Cook University (JCU). Since graduating JC went on to work for the North Queensland Cowboys (NRL) and still to this day remains at the club as one of their senior physiotherapist overseeing various teams, including their women’s team and academy team. What’s even more impressive is he has attended 2 Rugby League World Cups in 2017 and 2022 as a physiotherapist for the Tongan national team all while having an academic role with JCU and owning and operating one of the premier sports injury management clinics in North Queensland situated in the state of the art Cowboys Centre of Excellence Facility. Enjoy this fun and inspiring conversation with an old mate, who grew up in rural central Queensland and went on to travel the world in his various roles in high performance sport. 


Highlights from the episode…

• JC explain how he wanted to be a Physio since grade 9.
• JC and I were in the first cohort of physios through JCU and we explain how that helped us in getting into one of the most competitive courses in uni.
• JC shares how 4.3 GPA student secured a role with an NRL club upon graduating. 
• “Recruit a personality and train the rest”
• JC explains why he thinks he was the only one out of 100 people in our cohort who was given a chance to work with the only NRL club in North Queensland.
• “You can’t just do what everyone else is doing and expect different results”
• His role has evolved during his close to 15 years with the NQ Cowboys high performance staff.
• How JC dealt with the pressures of sport and shares an on field incident that tested his ability to deal with pressure.  
•  A unique insight into the premiership winning season at the club, including what Jonathan Thurston asked each one of his teammates to do!
• When working with new coaches I share the 3 questions I always ask coaches to assist in getting clear understanding of what is expected. 
• When "gut feel" out trumps objective markers in decision making. 
• The backstory of JCs role with Tonga and how the team rose from being barely financially supported to becoming number 3 in world rugby league and some of the highlights of being part of 2 world cups.
• An insight into a usual day, during a World Cup campaign.
• JC spent time at the world renowned orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, Aspetar and shares his experience. 
• JC has always been good at building relationships and he shares how he networks in a non sleazy way.
• What it’s like to own a Physio business and work in sport and how JC juggles this.
• Finally we talk about the pros and cons of working full time in sport vs working part time in sport while working in a clinic.

People mentioned: 

• Kristian Woolf - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristian_Woolf
• Andrew Croll - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-croll-15993477/?originalSubdomain=au
• Rod Whiteley - https://www.aspetar.com/en/about-us/people/rod-whiteley

Jon Crawley contact details:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-crawley-06999186/?originalSubdomain=au
• North Queensland Physiotherapy Centre: https://www.nqpc.com.au/jonathan-crawley

Host: Luis Resa

Contact me on:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-resa-a975196b/
• Email: [email protected]

Thanks for listening and please leave a review. If you would like more information on anything mentioned in this episode simply send me an email.