Rugby League Coaching Manuals

 Individuals - Beyond assisting improvement and skill development, a coach has the responsibility to ensure that they strive to develop individuals into what Canavan likes to call ‘leaders' and ‘better people'.

"You want them to be leaders. If they are leaders, they are going to assist the team, which assists your club. This, in turn, makes your club proud and a good community organisation with respect throughout."

Self - Canavan emphasises that coaches have responsibility to themselves as much as to anybody else in the organisation.

"It's great to be selfless. But if you're too selfless, sometimes you can get yourself into a hole and forget about taking care of yourself."

Canavan's suggestion: "Ask yourself what it is you want to do within yourself.

"Self-respect, self-analysis, self-improvement and adaptability are all things a coach must possess and continually assess."

It is as though he is saying that a coach must continue to learn after every successful try, after every missed tackle, after every game and after every season.

Canavan draws on two examples to show how a coach can change: When Kevin Sheedy, after 27 years as AFL coach of Essendon, was asked, "How did you keep your job?" He said, "I changed myself every couple of years."

Sheedy decided to move himself from point A to point B. Put simply, he evolved as a coach and delivery type changed as a result.

On the other hand, Jack Gibson, arguably one of the most effective coaches in Rugby League, never remained in a club for more than three years. When asked why, he simply said that they stopped listening to him after three years. Gibson physically decided to go from point A to point B.................

Click for RLCM September Coaching Resources