By Jon Geddes

WARATAHS head coach Darren Coleman has delivered a clear message to ambitious Shute Shield players: We are watching you.

With the Super Rugby season now finished, Coleman – along with assistant coaches Chris Whitaker, Pauli Taumoepeau and Jason Gilmore – are out and about attending club games each weekend, casting their eagle eyes over prospective talent. 

Even during the Super campaign workaholic Coleman made time in his busy schedule each week to  watch all Shute Shield games in some form on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

That connection is a refreshing initiative as there are first grade players who deserve to be assessed. And it gives recognition to the clubs which have often felt neglected by the upper echelons of the game.

Coleman is a local coach who clearly understands the rugby landscape and does more than just mouth platitudes to clubland. 

 “We have a pretty rigorous viewing schedule between the four coaches and our academy coaches,” Coleman said in a revealing and wide-ranging interview with Rugby News.

“We make sure that we have both a live presence at Shute Shield games, and also with the beauty of Stan Sport we can watch all the games.

“We very much understand that Shute Shield is what supplies our talent and we have to make sure we have our finger on the pulse with what is coming through.

“We are not going in there blind, we know who we are going to watch each week.

“We are well across the Shute Shield and who is playing in each team and who is doing well.

“I have watched every game this year in some description, even if it is a 20-minute mini-match.”

The Waratahs now get all the games coded by a computer program, so if there they are tipped off a about a player, the coaches can click on his name and all his involvements will pop up.

POSITIONS VACANT

THERE is opportunity for club players to grab a spot in the Waratahs’  2024 squad with a few spots still available.

“We always leave a couple there to see what the Shute Shield unearths,” Coleman said.

All teams and supporters think they have players ready to step up to the next level. But the brutal reality is that competition is fierce and history has shown that good club players don’t always cut it at Super Rugby level.

That is one of the big challenges the NSW coaches have to address when evaluating talent.     

 ACE OF CLUBS

COLEMAN has had a long involvement in the Shute Shield as both a player and two-time premiership winning coach.

“I’ve had more clubs than Tiger Woods,” he quipped. “Pauli cut his teeth through the Shute Shield (as player and coach at Easts) and ‘Whits’ is a staunch Randwick man.

“So ‘a’ we are respectful where we have come from and ’b’ there has to be that pathway.”    

And that part of the job is not a chore for Coleman.  

“I enjoy nothing better than picking out a good Shute Shield contest, sitting in the sun, having a cold tinnie and watching some good competitive rugby,” he said.

Coleman said the best thing about the Shute Shield in recent years has been the evenness of the competition.

“It is way closer that what it used to be and I think that’s great, everyone has hope,” he said.

EXPERT TRAINING

In another innovative move, the NSW coaches have made themselves available to attend training sessions at the request of clubs and, as an example, Taumoepeau spent time at West Harbour last week.

“There is an opportunity now if clubs want to, they can reach out and we are happy to go and help with their training and add our two bobs worth,” Coleman said. “But again, we would never force ourselves on them.”

Clubs would mad not to take advantage of that expertise, especially at this time of the season when a fresh voice can be a real tonic.

The Waratahs coaches also supporting Andrew Cleverley at the Waratahs Academy by looking at the up-and-coming young players.

“That is important to us,” Coleman said.