Brumbies wrestle with new ideas
BY CHRIS DUTTON
01 Sep, 2011 12:00 AM
Wrestling, rugby league, Australian football, swimming and cricket - new ACT Brumbies coach Jake White is leaving no stone unturned as he attempts to create the best environment in Super Rugby.
Despite being six months from the start of the season, White put his players through a tough wrestling workout at 6am yesterday under the tutelage of mixed martial arts expert Chris ''the hammer'' Haseman.
White is wasting no time trying to lay the foundations for rebuilding the club after its horror season this year.
To ensure he has all bases covered, White has already met with NRL mentors Craig Bellamy and Brian Smith, hopes to catch up with AFL guru Kevin Sheedy and will share ideas with swimming and cricket coaches in the coming weeks.
''The thing I'm enjoying about being in Australia is the cross pollination of all the sports,'' White said.
''I went to see Craig Bellamy and the Storm [on Tuesday] and just watched how they did things down there.
''You can get stimulated as a coach in terms of what rugby league or AFL does. There must be things in their game that they are leaders in and we can bring them to rugby union.''
While their Super Rugby rivals are easing back into training, White has scheduled 6am training sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to fast-track his team's development.
Working with Haseman was the first step to trying to turn the Brumbies into a ruthless defensive unit. After a 40-minute wrestling session, White got technical and started workshopping defensive ideas with his players and Haseman.
It was Haseman who helped pioneer wrestling in the NRL when he worked with Wayne Bennett at the Brisbane Broncos in 1998.
Brumbies athletic performance director Dean Benton - who worked with Haseman at the Broncos - suggested the club enlist the retired light heavyweight's services.
The 42-year-old has previously worked with the Brumbies in 2000-01 as well as the ARU and NRL club. Now Haseman hopes his techniques will help make the Brumbies ''efficient'' in attack and defence.
''In some cases unfortunately wrestling [in rugby league and union] has got a bad name, but the way I work with it is within the ethics of the game,'' Haseman said.
''We look at dominating in defence or in attack, one-on-one to dominate another person and that's no different to wrestling. It's about efficiency, the more efficient we become, the less energy we use and that's what we specialise in, the only difference in rugby is there's a ball.''
White officially took over the Brumbies coaching reins in July and is piecing together his Super Rugby puzzle.
He has filled all 30 roster spots and will announce the five remaining wider-training group recruits in the coming weeks.
The former South African World Cup-winning mentor is working closely with his players to find the best way to erase the memory of finishing 13th last season.
''The Brumbies have always done something other teams can't do or haven't done,'' White said.
''[Training now] is about finding ways to stimulate the players.
''It's not just about 40 minutes or wrestling, it's about throwing it open to them, what they think and how they want to play the game.
''They know what will work and then we can tweak it. It gives you a way you can measure how we're performing if the players aren't doing what we said we were going to do.
''By the time Christmas comes, I want to make sure everyone is 100per cent ready for January and once we get back all 35 players are ready to be selected and ready to play.''
