The Coach Doctor Podcast

In this episode I speak with one of the masters of sports development and coach research Professor Jean Côté. Professor Côté is a member of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston (Canada). His research interests are in the areas of children in sport, coaching, positive youth development, and sport expertise. Professor Côté has published more than 130 researc...

In this episode I talk with Dave Diggle. Dave is a veteran of the sporting arena with over 40 years of competitive and hands-on experience at the top level. He represented Great Britain as a Gymnast and now works with the next generation of elite performers across a range of both team sports and individual sports, ranging from rugby union to car racing. With a background as a high-performance coac...

In this weeks episode of the coach doctor podcast I speak with Dave Ellis. Dave is a New Zealand based rugby coach who has had experience coaching with the Blues in Super Rugby, Connacht in the PRO 14 Competition, the Bristal Bears in the English Premiership as well as many other clubs throughout the world. Dave is a coach who loves to share and presents his coaching ideas via webinars on his webs...

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 dea...

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, plann...

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...

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...

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 car...

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. Som...

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...

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...

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 di...

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 g...

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. Ba...

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 la...

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 Jam...

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 a...

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 o...

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...

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 re...

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 Au...

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...

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...

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 wit...

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 Oly...