Last year, with his bus license in his back pocket, Daniel Hawke drove the ACT Brumbies Women XV out to Wagga for a weekend tournament in the country. His first experience in a women’s rugby environment, Daniel enjoyed the weekend being a part of it and chatting footy with the girls immensely.
So when the role opened to coach them in the 2021 Buildcorp Super W, Daniel was eager to put his hand up and has loved every minute since his appointment.
“It’s a new challenge for me. Working within the Brumbies organisation is a massive honour and it’s very humbling to have the opportunity to work the women.”
COVID’s impact on the team preparation has seen trial games cancelled and forced all the Super W teams to adapt in a turbulent lead up. Their disrupted preparation is compounded by the nature of of tournament–style two week season.
“These short tournament formats mean there’s a lot of time pressure to do game reviews and previews. It makes managing injury and loads more difficult too.
You’ve gotta choose the big rocks knowing you’re not gonna be able to make big fixes in two days.”
Daniel has been in the ACT coaching pathway since 2007 as the U15s Brumbies Assistant Coach and has progressively made his way up the ranks since.
In 2020, Daniel experienced the inaugural IRAA Advanced Coaches Course
“Spending a week with Brian Ashton challenged the way I see coaching and reinforced that I wanted to keep doing and pursue it. Being able to spend time with guys like Brian and and Todd Lauden and the amount of informal discussions outside of the core content was invaluable.”
“Also the network from IRAA, being exposed to other aspirational coaches throughout Australia. We’re still in a WhatsApp group and still talk and chat today.”
It’s set to be high energy Buildcorp Super W season. We can’t wait to see how it plays out.