The Positive Rugby Podcast

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. 

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

Ben Batger | Positive Rugby Coaching & Development Podcast S2 Ep13

Eastwood Head Coach Ben Batger joins us for a top chat about his journey from player to coach. We get a great insight into how his experiences - good and bad, shaped his coaching style.

We chatted about his Super Rugby playing experiences, NPC in NZ, Italian Rugby and coaching in the USA and his belief in working on the individual as much as the team. Ben was really open discussing the transformation of Eastwood from 2019 (after 10 players retired) in to 2020 and the massive change he had to make with a new squad on their way to making the 2020 Shute Shield Grand Final.

Hunter Wildfire coach Scott "Bubba" Coleman talkin' all things rugby from the Rugby League playing kid from South West Rocks to playing for the Wildfires in their first venture into the Sydney Premiership Competition (Shute Shield), coaching abroad in Italy and in the Hunter with the hugely successful Hamilton Hawks and now leading the Hunter Wildfires for their assault on the 2022 Shute Shield.

We dove into his transition from player to coach, the importance of connecting to the local rugby community, building tight bonds and culture within a team and the challenges faced forming a brand new team (Hunter Wildfires) during the pandemic. Good chat from a great rugby man

Schoolboys, Shute Shield, Japanese Top League, Fiji Rugby, Waratahs Academy, Western Force, Melbourne Rebels and back to Shute Shield for 2022. Joe Barakat has a massive amount of coaching experience and we dive right into the deep end with Joe. There are some great insights into what has made Joe so successful over long period of time as a coach, the importance of honesty and speaking the hard truth, building teams and his excitement to rip in for 2022 with a club close to his heart – West Harbour. 

We could have talked to Joe for a week and there is plenty to gain from his insights into the game

Great insight into the incoming Western Sydney Two Blues Head Coach Sailosi Tagicakibau. From his beginnings growing up in Auckland and breaking into the Samoan National 7s team, Super Rugby with the Chiefs and Stormers, a decade playing for London Irish and Wasps and 3 World Cups thrown in Sailosi has a great story to tell having taken a very different pathway to most. His coaching experiences are no different and he’s worked his way up to this opportunity to lead Western Sydney.

We talked about everything from his home village, his Fijian and Samoan heritage, playing Super Rugby in NZ and South Africa, his time at London Irish and Wasps, Rugby World Cups and the influence family and community have had on his life and coaching.

Different perspective this week with Super Rugby Referee Graham Cooper. Really interesting diving into the world of a referee and his journey from picking up the Whistle to Super Rugby Referee. 

Lots of great insight into the game and if you want to know what a Professional referee does and what a week looks like for them at the highest level then make sure you listen to the last 20mins it's great stuff

What with Nick from a young and upcoming coaches point of view. Nick coaches in the NSW Pathway, is Head Colts Coach at Randwick Rugby, and currently completing his Level 3 Coach studies.

We chatted about his coaching journey from coaching U11s at his club as a 15 year old, to injury pushing him into coaching at a young age and through to coaching at Randwick and he talks us through plenty of the things he learned as a player at Scots College, winning a GPS Premiership under the guidance of some top coaches.