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Shute Shield's Wildfires sign ex-Waratahs coach Coleman
By AAP
Former NSW Waratahs coach Darren Coleman is returning to the Shute Shield as director of rugby for the Hunter Wildfires.
The Waratahs opted against offering Coleman another contract after his injury-ravaged side finished last in this year's Super Rugby Pacific competition.
But the 51-year-old has been swiftly snapped up by the Wildfires, the only non-Sydney club competing in the Shute Shield.
Coleman, who coached the Wildfires in 1996-97, will start immediately and has already hit the ground running with meetings on Monday in Newcastle.
His younger brother Scott will remain as head coach role with Coleman to oversee the whole rugby program.
"Being from a small country town, the Wildfires was my first serious rugby club way back in 1995," he said.
"I remember the opportunities as a 21-year-old the club afforded me to play against Super Rugby and international players from here in Newcastle.
"It set me up for 25-plus years of professional involvement in the sport. I started here so it's now a full circle and is great to be back."
Club president Brett Sutherland hailed Coleman's arrival as a significant appointment for the Wildfires, who are guaranteed at least three more years in the Shute Shield.
"And it shows a real belief from Darren about the program," Sutherland said.
"We feel Darren can have a broad impact across the region and one of his first comments after accepting the role was about getting straight to work and developing relationships with all of the Hunter rugby community."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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