New Queensland Reds assistant coach Mick Heenan is hoping to help the club overcome their disappointing record against Kiwi opposition as he makes the transition from club footy.
Heenan has created an impressive legacy in the Hospital Cup with Uni of Queensland, winning six premierships and playing in nine Grand Finals since taking over in 2009.
Catch Rugby World Cup 2021 on Stan Sport. Start your Free Sport Trial Now
It has established the 48-year-old as arguably the most successful coach in Queensland club Rugby in the modern era, joining former experienced coach Phil Blake (defence coach) as new additions to Brad Thorn's coaching staff.
It reunites Heenan and Thorn, with the two coaches facing off as rivals during the first two seasons of the NRC as they coached Brisbane City and Queensland Country respectively.
Heenan will be mainly responsible for maximising the development of non-matchday-23 players as well as a renewed focus on off-ball effort areas and attack breakdown, embracing the challenge of Super Rugby.
“I’m just really excited,” he told reporters last week.
“I’ve got a lot of history coaching in club footy and for a long time, I was content with coaching club footy but over the last couple of years I’ve thought there’s a bit more to give there.
“I’m just really excited Brad (Thorn) and Sam Cordingley have given me this chance.
“I’m been coaching as well as working in corporate roles for 25 years so my remit will be around breakdown but there’s always plenty of organisational stuff that I can help Brad with off the field, particularly the non-23 match day squad.”
The Queensland Reds are coming off a disappointing end to their 2022 season as their struggles against New Zealand opposition continued.
The club won one of six games against the five Kiwi teams, knocked out in the quarter-finals by the Crusaders as they matched their output from 2021.
It juxtaposes their form against the Australian sides, backing up their Super Rugby AU heroics with seven wins from their first eight matches to start the season.
“I think there’s been some issues in the past couple of years with the way we’ve approached the games against the Kiwis,” Heenan explained.
“There’s clearly an issue with where we have gone about things against the Kiwis. We’ve gone really well against the Australian teams and you can see the improvements immediately since Brad took over but I’m there to help the coaching staff and players take the next step.
“There’s certainly a mentality there which you’ve seen across the Australian teams but there’s also a game style that we need to look at closely in attack and defence to help us have more consistent results and make it harder for the Kiwis to play against us.”
Heenan will get his first look at the wider playing squad as part of the Reds' coaching during the Queensland Rugby Challenger Series.
It will see standouts from the Hospital Cup take on a Reds' development squad filled with Super Rugby experience including Josh Flook, Mac Grealy and Angus Blyth.
“I thought the club and colts competition was of a really high standard,” he added.
“We’ll see that at that NRC-style level with the Presidents and Development XV games that are going up so I think that’s a good opportunity for them to show what they have against the best of club footy and guys developing in the Reds squad.”
