Harder to tackle, and still standing in round 18.

Strength work for club rugby that fits around training nights, fixtures and contact load, rather than competing with them. I have played since I was six, I coach two sides at Wellington, and I hold the Rugby Australia performance-pathway accreditation you can check.

Senior club players

You want to win more contact and last the season. The work has to fit around two training nights, a fixture, and a job.

Colts and juniors

Still growing, and that changes what loading is appropriate. Technique and consistency come before adding weight to the bar.

Players in a pre-season

A block with a date on it. The strength you build before round 1 is the strength you defend for the rest of the year.

Players coming back from injury

Once you are cleared to load by whoever is treating you. I work alongside that clearance, not around it.

Technique before load

A junior earns weight on the bar by showing the movement, on video, at a load they control. If the technique is not there, the load does not go up. That is not a philosophy, it is the progression rule.

Supervision is a condition

Under 18s train with an adult present, in a gym, not alone in a garage. I will ask you to confirm that before the first block, and I would rather lose the client than skip it.

Growth changes the plan

A player mid growth spurt gets less loading and more movement quality, because coordination and tendon tolerance lag behind the height. That shows up in the programming, not just in the conversation.

Contact load is the real risk

Their week already has two training nights and a match in it. My job is often to take work out, not add it, so the gym does not become the fourth collision session.

What you can check about me

Rugby Australia Pathways & Performance Coach

to 2029

Community Coach

to 2028

Season Ready

current

Pathways & Performance is the performance-pathway accreditation, not the entry-level one. I currently coach Wellington RUFC Men’s XV and Wellington JRUFC Juniors XV for the 2026 season.

What I am not

• Not a physiotherapist, doctor or dietitian. I do not diagnose, treat or clear injuries.
• Not a selector. I have no influence on your child’s selection at their club, including the sides I coach.
• Not a replacement for their club coach. I work with the season their club has set, not against it.
• Not a supplement seller. Nothing on this site earns me commission.

Coaching only. No medical or therapeutic claims are made. IronCoaching is a private business and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Rugby Australia or any club named here.

Lower body strength

Squat and hinge patterns, loaded heavy enough to matter. This is what wins the collision and what holds a scrum up.

Neck, trunk and shoulders

Trained deliberately, not as an afterthought. The positions rugby puts you in are the positions you need to be strong in.

Speed and acceleration

Short efforts at real intent, kept well away from your heaviest sessions so neither one ruins the other.

Availability

The most underrated quality in club rugby. A good season is one where you are fit to be picked every week, and that is a programming outcome.

Gym load available across a season

Build the base

Three gym sessions, heavy lower body work, and running volume that climbs before contact starts. This is the only part of the year with genuine room to add strength.

Defend it

Two short sessions, placed by where your match sits in the week. Enough load to hold strength, not enough to arrive at Saturday already beaten up.

Spend it

Minimum effective dose. By this point the training is about being available and fresh, and the honest answer is usually to do less.

Enter your push-ups, sit-ups and shuttle-run score, pick your Service and entry category, and get a scored gap against the published PFA minimums, per component, with what to do about each one. No account, and no email needed to see your result.

Individualised programming with a monthly review. For lifters who are consistent on their own and need the plan to be right.

• Individualised programming
• Monthly video review and check-in
• Programming adjusted each month
• Direct message access
• Bodyweight and weight-class targets

The same programming with weekly contact. For anyone with a meet, a PFA date or a season to be ready for.

• Everything in Monthly Check-in
• Weekly video review and check-in
• Programming adjusted weekly
• Optional fortnightly call

Everything, including the nutrition work that made the bodyweight-down, total-up trajectory possible.

• Everything in Weekly Check-in
• Full nutrition coaching
• Weekly nutrition check-in
• Playing-weight and body-composition planning

Applications are open now. The first 10 clients take 20% off whichever tier they pick, locked for as long as they stay, in exchange for documented results and a testimonial. That is the trade: the practice is new, and I need proof that is not my own.

Client results

No client results published yet, and I have invented none. Applications are open now. The founding cohort is the first 10 clients, and I will publish their numbers and dates here as they come in.

Testimonials

None yet, and none invented. The founding cohort exchanges a locked rate for a testimonial once there is something real to say. Until then, my own record is the proof, and it is published by someone else.

Should my teenager be lifting weights?

Will gym work make me slow or too heavy?

How does this fit around club training?

What are your rugby coaching credentials?

Do you influence selection?

Can you help with an injury?

What about pre-season if I am starting late?

Does nutrition come into it?