By Tim Mosey

Bond University’s 20-19 victory over defending premiers UQ last weekend is proof things are on the up on the Gold Coast.

“We did a bit of recruiting over the off season, particularly in the outside backs,” Bond coach Sean Hedger told Rugby News.

“Our main basis of recruiting is always getting Gold Coast players to come back to the Gold Coast.

“Joey Fittock is a Northern Rivers product and had been driving to Brisbane since school to play at Sunnybank, so we said ‘why don’t you just play here?’

“Ryan Menzies went away for a couple of years – he is a TSS boy as well – now he is back.

“It just makes sense, they come home and connect back up with all their school mates.”

Led by experienced props Edmund Aholelhi and Salesi Manu, Hedger said his side’s set piece has been a key component early this year.

“We have Eddie (Aholelhi) and Salesi (Manu) up front which we thought would be pretty solid, and with some strike power out back you are half a chance.

“New recruit Pierce Fitzgerald from Brothers adds some age and experience to our back three too.

“Franky Calugay, he’s from Ballina and has been playing in France. He’s come back as well. It’s really good to see these guys coming back to play in their home region.”

Hedger is in his fourth season at Bond, returning to Australia following a seven-year stint in Japan.

On return, Hedger spent two years at the ARU academy in Sydney and one year with the Melbourne Rebels as an assistant coach before linking with Bond.

He is building a strong culture within the club but is aware of the time it takes to generate success.

“It takes five years to be an overnight success,” Hedger quips.

“I hadn’t been involved in Australian club rugby for over ten years. It takes time to get used to what the standards are like, what the methods of recruitment are, what the level of commitment from the players is, it takes a while to get it all sorted in your own head.

“There are a couple of ways to recruit in club rugby. One of them is to build a program and we have gone with this method.

“Bond has one of the best facilities of any club in Australia. We have access to the Bond University High Performance Training Centre which includes two gyms, 50m pool, hot and cold recovery center and an altitude chamber. The players can train like professionals if they want.”

Bond opens their new clubhouse this weekend for the clash with Easts and Hedger believes this will only add to the growing culture in the club.

“The club is really excited about the new clubhouse, it adds so much to our existing facilities.

“To add to this, we run a talent ID group of players from 16 years old up into colts. We have ten blokes who won’t suit up this weekend because we have 45 plus players training with our colts at the moment, with a third of them being schoolboys.

“We used to have 20 kids rock up for colts and second grade averaged seven players to training. It’s great, now we have players everywhere.”

Bond will be keen to wind back the clock to the halcyon days of Gold Coast rugby, when the previously named Breakers boasted names such as Tai McIsaac, Wendell Sailor, Chris Latham, Matt Stafford and Lloyd Johansson.

Hedger had the pleasure of coaching many of those stars during his coaching time with the Reds, Rebels and in Japan, and cites his time overseas as a significant learning opportunity.

“I learnt to really simplify my coaching. You couldn’t just stand there and rattle on for too long. You had to really get your messages succinct. I loved it. It was great for my coaching I think.

But for now Hedger is settled on the Gold Coast and is excited about the future at Bond.

“There is so much unexplored potential in the place. With numbers increasing all the time it gives you real heart that success is just around the corner.”

For Gold Coast and indeed QLD rugby, we hope so too.

Bond take on Easts at Robina, 3:20pm this Saturday.