‘We’ll force rule changes’: Walkers to upset applecart
Joel Gould |
Brothers Ben and Shane Walker once revolutionised rugby league with their innovating coaching methodology and they are vowing to do it again.
The former NRL stars will take the helm of Toowoomba-based Western Clydesdales in the statewide Hostplus Cup competition this season in a much-anticipated return to clipboard duties.
Ben Walker has been licking his lips at the prospect of exploiting the many rule changes brought in by the NRL.
“The game keeps providing coaches like us opportunities to innovate because they keep changing the rules every other day in rugby league. It gives you an opportunity to exploit those rules,” Ben Walker told AAP.
“Some of the changes are going to help our cause. There is one particular rule, brought in recently, that the game will probably be forced to change because of the way we will exploit it.
“You will see it in round one. I will send you a clip of it when we do it and it will make a mockery of the rule that is already there.”
The Walkers lifted the Ipswich Jets from cellar dwellers to Cup premiers in 2015 during their tenure at the Ipswich Jets and were pivotal in launching the careers of Queensland forward Kurt Capewell and NRL and Super League rake Matt Parcell amongst others.
Parcell will reunite with the Walkers to play for the Clydesdales this season.
The Ipswich team mastered the short drop-out and short kick-off to get the ball back from restarts, a technique that is now used by all NRL clubs only not as well as the Jets under the Walkers.
They are also disciples of razzle dazzle “contract football”, introduced by legendary former Toowoomba coach and Australia halfback Duncan Thompson who mentored the Clydesdales to six consecutive Bulimba Cup titles in the 1950s.
Ben said the Clydesdales had been practising their short kick-offs and have several handy exponents of the art, as was the case at Ipswich a decade ago when Wes Conlon and Kurt Capewell were the best in the world at it.
“We are excited by it, we are practising it and we will do short drop-outs and short kick-offs just about every time … and if we don’t get it back we will defend for six tackles,” Walker said.
“If we have the ball we want it back. We don’t want to give it to you cheaply.
“They have changed the rules of course since we last coached.
“When we were doing it. you gave up a penalty in front if you didn’t get it right but we were game enough to take the chance.”
The Toowoomba-born Walkers want to restore the city to its league halcyon days.
Walker said Toowoomba was known for free-flowing football, a legacy of Thompson’s “passed down from generation to generation”.
“His philosophy was ingrained in us as kids,” Walker said.
“We grew up with the belief that if someone is in a better position than you, then give them the ball. We have evolved our coaching philosophy around that concept.”
The Walkers were very close to being appointed head coaches of the Gold Coast and Warriors in previous years.
“But our motivation for coaching again wasn’t to get back in front of NRL teams. The motivation is to turn Toowoomba from zero to first,” Ben said.
“We are pumped to be back.
“They came back into the comp three years ago but haven’t had any success at all. Now as proud Toowoomba people, we have the opportunity to coach them and we want to win the grand final.”
AAP