The Inside Shoulder

Lance Hohaia is an NRL legend who played almost a decade for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL, won a World Cup in 2008 with the New Zealand Kiwis side and won a Super League title in 2014 with St Helens - but for the last few years has been coaching college rugby union in the United States. Lance dives deep into rugby league and rugby union IQ and its importance to the game, we talk video analy...

On this episode of The Inside Shoulder we are joined by incoming London Broncos Assistant Coach and recent Hull KR Treble Winning Assistant Coach, Danny Ward, the man who helped construct the best defence in Super League 2025 - conceding only 8-9 points per game on average, as well as only one try in the Grand Final against Wigan at Old Trafford. We discussed the decades in the making transformati...

Coach Terrence Kennel (TK) is the current Director of Applied Football Science and Speed for the University of South Florida Bulls, a Division 1 school that competes in the American Conference. TK has worked at the elite level across numerous sports including rugby, MMA, basketball, baseball, soccer and of course, American football, carving out a path and trajectory that is unique to him - surfing...

Michael Gragg is Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Harding University Bisons Football program, a D2 team with multiple undefeated seasons in recent memory. Michael tells the Inside Shoulder podcast about the culture and recruitment behind the Bisons' formidable record, about his own transition from playing to the coaching staff within the same team, as well as touching on performance...

Chev Walker is a current Assistant Coach at Super League juggernauts, the Leeds Rhinos, a role he combines with coaching one of the most consistently successful Academy systems in the world and his new role as Transition Coach - taking responsibility for those promising young players and their path into the top tier professional ranks. As a player, Chev had a long and glittering career with the Le...

Laurent Frayssinous is the current Head Coach of France and was previously St Helens Assistant Coach when the Saints were crowned World Club Champions, beating the formidable NRL champs the Penrith Panthers on their own turf. In addition to this he was previously Head Coach of the Catalans Dragons in Super League, having been a player for the club in their inaugural season. In this episode we disc...

Sean O’Loughlin is current Assistant Coach at the Wigan Warriors, the most successful club in the history of British rugby league. As an assistant coach responsible for defence, Sean is the leading architect behind arguably the best defence in the Super League era, having not conceded a single try (!) in back to back Grand Finals. As a player, Sean was also the long-term Captain of Wigan, as well...

Scott Leech is the Head Strength & Conditioning coach at the University of Rhode Island, a D1 Football Program. He is a pioneer in the area of “contact prep”, implementing & rigorously planning contact dosing into off and pre-season workouts for his football athletes. Scott has thought long and hard about athletes’ needs in terms of contact, both physically & psychologically, and in th...

Andrew D. Ryland is a former D1 College Football and Rugby player at Penn State University, as well as international representative for the USA rugby team. He is a tackling and contact specialist coach who advises multiple teams across both sports at the elite level. In this episode we discussed learning from both football and rugby, as well as a deeper dive into the philosophy of contact and coll...

Steven Babic is a renowned and sought-after wrestle and contact coach in elite level rugby league and rugby union. He is currently employed as the contact and wrestle coach for both the NRL's Wests Tigers and Super Rugby's NSW Waratahs. Prior to this Babic was the long term wrestle coach for the Canberra Raiders, where his ball pilfering technique arguably helped his hometown club to the 2...

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...

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 t...

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 fo...

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 fa...

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 ma...

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 m...

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...

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...