A week in the life of a Coach

Coach's discuss the pressure on them here

Saturday (game day)

• Reinforce the tactical approach developed with assistant coaches during the week.
• Deliver pre-match address (former Tigers coach Damien Hardwick compared each one to making a keynote speech at a conference).
• Run the coaches box, using rapid decision-making and communication. Address players at three breaks and post-match.
• Do post-match media conference. Go home and view your team?s game. Potentially catch other games.

Sunday

• Spend five to six hours coding the game. This means going through broadcast and behind-the-goals vision of each match, stopping and marking each significant teaching moment identified for the team or an individual.
• Discuss injury results.
• Plan for the week ahead.
• Perhaps do a radio or television interview.
• Hope to spend some time with the family.

Monday

• Review the game with the team and individuals. The coach may need to give direct feedback to the group or an individual, which has to be carefully delivered for maximum impact. Often relationships built away from the club help, this so assistant coaches particularly spend significant time outside of hours with players they are coaching. Without that extra time - which often includes dinners with family, golf, coffees, a trip to a player?s hometown - it is difficult to establish the sort of rapport required to coach well.
• Recovery or flush training session.
• Perhaps attend the playing group leadership meeting.

Tuesday

• Light training day after signing off on assistants' plans.
• Examine opposition vision to determine tactics for the next match.
• Any one-on-one meetings with players or staff.
• Could meet with the CEO or football manager or be required to assist with a report to the board.
• Match committee may meet for the first time regarding selection.

Wednesday

• Main training day. Significant preparation time for training and then out on track for training.
• Signs off on opposition analysis. Might indicate to players who is playing the next match or who has been dropped after the previous week?s performance.
• More discussion with assistants around an upcoming match.
• Any club-related activities such as meeting sponsors, attending a community event or extra media may occur.
• Regular list management meetings.

Thursday

• Scheduled day off, but normally spent on the phone to all manner of people within the club including medical, assistants, senior players, the CEO or president.
• Will also invariably spend time watching vision.
• Assistant coaches in particular watch opposition video on their day off as it's only time available to do so. This role used to be handled by analysts, including specific opposition analysts.

Friday

• Light training session called a captain?s run.
• Fine tune game-day presentation to players and may make a preliminary presentation to a player reaching a milestone.
• Might be required to travel.
• Finish a week talking football with anyone they bump into during the week outside their family home.

Saturday

• If lucky, they might catch a quarter or a half of their children?s sporting activity.
• Head to game to do their job again, including pre-game media, and assistants might have to meet with a coterie group that pays for the privilege to hear the team?s plans for the game.
• Attend a sponsors or community function.