ON THE COACHING ROAD

You jumped at the opportunity to return to the Ireland set-up. What exactly are you up to with the team?

AMy official role is a liaison officer for Rugby League World Cup, so I’m here on behalf of them to help out wherever I can. But being a former player of the Irish side I’m really stoked to be a part of it. I really enjoyed my last World Cup playing and I just wanted to be a part of it in any sense and help out so I’ve sort of taken on a bit of a coaching role, looking after the media, tourist guide – whatever needs doing. It’s been really enjoyable. You get a respect for different areas involved in a rugby league team and obviously heading down the coaching road now for myself, it’s good to get a bit of a sense of these different areas, all the parts to the team. As a player sometimes it’s easy. You turn up with your boots, you train and everything else gets done for you. So really being a part of this and getting an understanding of all the other things that go on, I think it’s great personally for my development.

Q ASpeaking of your own road, what led you to be appointed Raiders assistant for 2018?

It has been a quick progression. I retired in 2014 and went straight into a full-time coaching role at the Raiders, sort of helping out with the defence, then I was helping out with the under-20s and the following year I was the head coach at the under-20s, which I’ve had for the past two years. I’m now progressing up to full-time with the NRL.