By Jon Geddes

DARREN Coleman hasn’t just reinforced his credentials as a terrific rugby coach by revitalising the Waratahs in spectacular fashion this season, he has also played a role in the impressive return of the Newcastle Wildfires to the Shute Shield.

His younger sibling Scott “Bubba” Coleman has revealed how “DC” provided a helping hand as he faced his own big rugby challenge by taking on the head coaching role with the competition newcomers.

“He’s definitely a mentor for me, no question,” “Bubba” told Rugby News.

“I bounce a lot of ideas off him, especially in the preseason.

“I went down to the Tahs three or four times and spent time with them and looked at the principles of his game and what he does.”

“Bubba” has a lot of similar philosophies to coaching as his brother, albeit they are working at different levels.

“You have to enjoy what you are doing,” he said.

“If I can’t get the boys to come to training three nights a week without enjoyment, I am going to be banging my head against a brick wall.

“But if you are not competing at training and not doing the hard work, you can’t afford to just have the good times.”

That sentiment has been a common theme from Waratahs players this season – that football is fun again under DC while putting in the hard yards at the same time.

“But he’s way more grumpy than me,” “Bubba” laughed.

Coleman junior also received a boost by securing former Wallabies defensive guru John Muggleton as one of his assistant coaches, whom he described as an amazing asset to the team.

“He’s excellent, he’s a really good influence,” Coleman said.

“He’s been there, done that and has also been really  good for me to bounce ideas off.  I go to him quite often.

“Defence wise he keeps everything very simple and everyone knows their roles and he is really technical on the actual tackle contest.”

ALL IN THE FAMILY

THE attitude of the Colemans to rugby and life away from football has been inherited from their late father Greg.

“He was a big team sportsperson and was big around our hometown in South West Rocks,” Scott said. ‘

‘He was just a social magnet and there was never a dull moment at home.

“Nearly every Christmas we would have strange backpackers in our house, he would pick up hitch hikers and bring them back home with him.”

GREATER EXPECTATIONS       

WHILE the performances of the reborn Western Sydney Two Blues have justifiably attracted a lot of attention, the effort of the Wildfires first up has been none-the-less impressive.

They currently sit in seventh spot on the table with five wins and four losses.

“We are very confident we will make the play-offs and give it a good shake,” Coleman said.

“We have a few players to come back in from injuries.

“I think we have probably exceeded a lot of other people’s expectations.

“But for ourselves we were pretty confident with our pre-season – we put on a lot of hard work.”

After consecutive wins over Wests, Randwick, Manly and Easts, the Wildfires got a reality check when well beaten by Warringah 42-21 at Rat Park last Saturday.

“It’s a good wake-up call to be honest,” Coleman said.

‘‘For us it was pretty disappointing. We were on a bit of a roll but we were out-enthused and outgunned out wide especially early.

“And full credit to the Rats, they stuck it to us in the forwards – their scrum was really solid and they stopped four of our rolling mauls.”

The Wildfires will be looking to regain momentum on Saturday and maintain their spot in the top eight when they take on Souths at home.

“We need to win,” Coleman said.