By Sam Ryan

At the start of every Shute Shield and NRC competition, Rugby News publishes a series of season preview articles, where a writer interviews each coach about the upcoming year.

After hearing about each club’s gains and losses and the “best preseason ever,” the coach is asked about his hopes and expectations for the season.

Newly appointed Waratahs assistant coach Simon Cron has answered that question on four separate occasions and his answer has been the same every time.

“We’re going to win.”

In 2015, Cron began his reign at North Sydney Oval, coaching a side that finished 11^th a year prior, yet in his mind there was no doubt his team could win the competition.

While the Shoreman fell just short of the finals that year, they certainly improved and a few months down the track, Cron was just as confident.

“Why even ask the question,” he joked ahead of the 2016 season.

Fortunately for Northern Suburbs, his mentality caught on and the Shoreman won 13 straight matches to win the club’s first Shute Shield premiership in 41 years.

It was a remarkable achievement but one Cron, without a hint of arrogance, always knew was possible and one achieved with a ‘win at all costs’ attitude that could be the secret to the Waratahs revival.

“At the end of the day, if you accept average or if close enough is good enough, then that is what you’re going to get and you’re doing the players a disservice,” the Kiwi born coach told Rugby News.

“When you’re coaching a sporting team, the last thing you can do is accept average and the players should be the same. That is where I probably push things more than others because in my mind, if you’re not playing to win or finish first, you may as well not play at all.

“Winning comes when you improve your skill levels or get stronger or play faster, there are a whole lot things you need to do before you can win, but the starting point has to be attitude.”

Cron was officially announced as the Waratahs new assistant coach today and will cross the bridge to Moore Park after finishing the season with Northern Suburbs.

The nephew of All Blacks scrum coach Mike Cron, Simon grew up in Christchurch where he played until he was 30 before beginning his coaching career.

Ironically in 2006 Cron and his then girlfriend (now wife) decided to move to Sydney for a year to escape rugby.

“Back in Christchurch, we knew every second person through club rugby, which is great, but Aimee had had enough of it,” he said.

“When we arrived, I didn’t have those rugby connections in Australia and we enjoyed living a different life for a while. But after a few years some mates of mine sat me down and said they thought it was time I got back into coaching.”

Cron joined Northern Suburbs in 2013 as Sevens coach and had immediate success, with a number of his players going on to represent Australia. His role soon expanded at the club and after a short stint at Eastern Suburbs, he was named head coach of the Shoreman ahead of the 2015 season.

Away from rugby, he was also busy.

Originally a PE teacher in New Zealand, Cron shifted into business when he moved to Australia and launched his own fashion distribution company in 2013.

On top of his business and Norths commitments, he coached the Sydney Rays in last year’s NRC and the Australian U20s side this year.

“I started my business so I had more flexibility to coach. Obviously there isn’t a lot of money in grassroots rugby so I needed to find a way to support my family and have time to coach,” he said.

Cron juggled both roles and a young family until May this year when he sold his business.

“It’s been exhausting to be honest. I’ve essentially been working two full time jobs for the last few years so I decided to sell the business a few months ago. By that stage it felt as though if I didn’t sell it, I’d end up having a heart attack eventually so the timing seemed right.”

But from later this year, Cron’s attention will be focussed on the Waratahs as he and head coach Daryl Gibson look to turn the Tahs fortunes around after a disappointing 2017 campaign.

“I think Gibbo is a great coach and I look forward to working with him,” Cron said of his countryman and new colleague.

“I’m hoping that there are a lot of things I can do to make the guys better rugby players, that’s my job. I think my expectations of others around me is quite high, so my expectation of the players is going to be very high in terms of their approach to rugby on and off the field.”

While he admitted there was plenty of work to do, Cron said he didn’t feel any added pressure after his success at grassroots level.

“There is pressure in any environment. If you’re into winning, you’re going to put pressure on yourself if you’re coaching the Waratahs or an U12s side because you want to win. But at the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s about the players and helping them improve,” he said.

“There are a lot of people bagging Australian rugby at the moment but I still think there are a lot of tough, talented and strong rugby players right around the country.

“We need to look at how we can create bigger, strong, faster athletes with good rugby brains so we can beat the best teams in the world and currently the New Zealand teams are the best so we’ve got a perfect opportunity to do that.”

But before he gets to that, Cron says his focus is firmly on Northern Suburbs and their Shute Shield title defence.

“It’s my fault that we’ve had some losses recently as I should have had better systems for evolution in place when I was in Georgia but we’ve identified quite a few things that we are looking to improve immediately.

“When we do that, we will be tough to beat and we’re certainly in it to win it.”

There’s that word again. Win!