The Inside Shoulder

Adam Innes is the Head Strength & Conditioning coach for Toulouse Olympique XIII and the France national team in rugby league. An Australian by birth, he's much more than a strength coach and is an integral part of the Toulouse Olympique club, essential to the culture they've built and must maintain in the unique circumstances in which they compete.

We cover athlete lifestyles, putting on lean muscle while maintaining the athletic qualities necessary to compete, how to integrate speed work and exposure in team training, as well as lessons learned from a challenging stint in the northern hemisphere's top flight, the Super League. Plus, we address the chatter than Toulouse might return to the top comp and what they would do differently this time around.

Adam Innes can be found on Instagram at @adaminnes_performance

Sergeant Tom Merriman, a serving Royal Marine Commando and Physical Training Instructor (PTI) who has trained some of the biggest names in British rugby league and union.

He helps us tackle the debate over the use of military boot camps for sport head on: do they build mental toughness and team cohesion? Or should teams focus on the demands of the sport? We also delve into the Commando Ethos and the qualities Royal Marines abide by to demonstrate resilience under extreme stress and adversity.

Sgt. Merriman has delivered Commando style training to a number of the biggest and most successful clubs in British rugby league and rugby union. He shares what he learned along the way as well as some of the anecdotes from working with those teams, including reigning champions the Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves under talismanic head coach, Sam Burgess.

Sergeant Tom Merriman maintains an Instagram account where he provides advice for potential recruits looking to prepare physically and mentally for a career in the Royal Marines. He can be found at @thecommandopti

Rohan Smith is the current head coach of the Norths Devils RLFC who play in the Queensland Cup competition in Australia. Prior to this he was head coach of one of the UK’s biggest professional rugby league clubs, the Leeds Rhinos, leading them to a Super League Grand Final in 2022.

Rohan Smith is a deep thinking coach who takes inspiration and ideas from a wide range of sports. We discussed the four levels of contact, how to implement contact & tackling, building a team identity around contact and why the gym is an absolute non-negotiable for contact athletes like rugby league players. We also delved into reflections & learning from his time at the helm of Leeds Rhinos, as well as the possibility of the Australian NRL taking over the UK Super League.

Rohan Smith can be found on Instagram at @coach_rohanrsmith

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Cyrus Habibi-Likio is a former elite running back having won a Rose Bowl in 2016 with the Oregon Ducks, before playing for the Boise State Broncos. As well as having worked out for several NFL teams, Cyrus went on to play in the UFL for the Memphis Showboats.

In addition to his football career, Cyrus grew up playing rugby union and was close to signing a professional rugby league contract after falling in love with the sport a couple of years ago.

We discussed the similarities and differences between all three sports, effective tackle technique and training, as well as content creation and how to stand out from the pack on social media - where Cyrus has amassed over 110k followers across multiple platforms as a professional content creator.

You can find him on IG at @cyri3e and on TikTok at @cyfytv

Matt Vickery is an experienced strength & conditioning coach with a background in rugby union, rugby league & combat sports. He specialises in strength and conditioning demands for those sports & as well as training current athletes, he has particular expertise with helping aging & retired sportsmen and women to stay healthy & athletic beyond their playing days.

We discussed maintaining athleticism and the transition from playing sport into retirement - for pro athletes and amateurs alike - as well as supplements & nutrition for contact sports, alcohol, sleep, and how to keep testosterone levels high.

Matt can be found on Instagram: @jump.throw.lift

Rich Hunwicks is a high performance coach & COO of the Everyday Athlete. He won Super League Grand Finals with Leeds Rhinos, a Challenge Cup and a League Leader’s Shield at Catalans Dragons, as well as served under master coach Wayne Bennett during England Rugby League’s 2017 World Cup campaign, in which they narrowly missed out, losing 6-0 in the final against Australia.

We talked about the massive cultural overhaul and professionalisation projects in which Rich has played an instrumental role in the top flight of rugby league in the Northern Hemisphere. At times, this included navigating different & delicate cultural environments as well as operating through the language barrier. Rich gives a sneak peek behind the curtain of the Catalans Dragons transformation from “also rans” to Super League juggernauts, as well as anecdotes from working under arguably the greatest coach of all time and one of the most enigmatic figures in all of sport, Wayne Bennett.

We also discussed what it means to be an Everyday Athlete and Rich’s current work in professional football (soccer).

Rich can be reached via his website www.richhunwicks.com and is on Instagram and Twitter/X at @richhunwicks

The Everyday Athlete project can be found at www.theeverydayathlete.uk

Omar Mouneimne is an elite defence coach with almost two decades of experience working at the highest levels of professional rugby union in the world. He was most recently defence coach for Exeter Chiefs in the English premiership, and has also coached with Bristol, Edinburgh, Stade Français and the Sharks in Super Rugby, among others.

Across rugby league, union & American football it is often the best defensive outfits who dominate. We sat down with Omar to discuss why that is, and why it’s important to be realistic about the physical, aggressive & collision based nature of the sports… And why that’s not something to be ashamed of. We also discussed how league has influenced union defence & what union can offer league today.

Omar can be found on Instagram at @omar_mouneimne_ and via his website: omardefence.com

Alec Olson is the Strength & Conditioning Coach for Portland State Vikings football, a D1 program in the Big Sky Conference. We discussed preparing his football athletes for the unique demands of contact & collisions, how Alec has been implementing ideas & principles from rugby league & rugby union, as well as the differences & similarities in physical demands between all three sports. Alec is an outspoken coach with a ton of great ideas - enjoy the conversation!

You can follow him on Instagram @alecolson_strength_coach