QAFL coaches Matthew Francis and Jarrod Field joined current Gold Coast FC assistant and Brisbane Lions premiership player Shaun Hart at the star studded 2009 High Performance Coaching Course held at the AIS in Canberra last week.
The strict nationwide selection process allowed for only 25 places with successful applicants coming from the Under 18 TAC Cup, various State League Competitions and several AFL teams.
The intensive five day course is a crucial step in the coaching pathway and is based around covering important high performance coaching areas such as communication strategies, advanced skill development, psychology, game analysis and talent identification.
Newly named AFL coaches Guy McKenna, Michael Voss, Damien Hardwick and Brad Scott have all completed the course within the past two years.
Others who attended the event this year included Brownlow Medallists Nathan Buckley and Robert Harvey, as well as former premiership players David King, Shannon Grant, Adam Simpson and Paul Williams.
After making his senior coach debut with Broadbeach in the QAFL, Shaun Hart jumped on board the newly formed Gold Coast FC assisting Guy McKenna in the TAC Cup competition this year and will take what is learnt from the course back to the franchise as it moves towards joining the AFL in 2011.
“This course has been an experience I will never forget,” Hart said.
“I give it 5 out of 5 for the amount of content information and understanding…this has been such a valuable opportunity that has been presented to me and the club.”
Matthew Francis has taken the Redlands Bombers from cellar dwellers to premiership contenders within only a few years and has added another string to his bow by assisting the Queensland under 21 team.
Hoping to improve on Redlands fourth place finish this season, the former Richmond and Collingwood strongman is looking forward to taking what he has learnt back to his other roles.
“I feel very privileged to be here attending the course and can’t wait to turn the theory into practice,” Francis said.
“This will allow me to extract the highest level of performance out of my players as possible as well as developing the other coaches at the club.”
Labrador coach Jarrod Field has put down a solid foundation for his seniors this year and hopes that with the use of this course his team will be a solid contender in the 2010 QAFL season.
“This has been a fantastic experience for me,” Mr Field said.
“The days have been long and intense but I’ve gained some valuable knowledge and am looking forward to getting back to Labrador and putting this information into practice for pre-season.”
With such a select group taking part, AFL Queensland Game Development Operations Manager Brad Reid is pleased to have the three coaches representing the State at the event.
“This is a great reward for some hard work and encouraging results throughout the year,” said Mr Reid.
“It will go a long way to improving their coaching and continuing the development of young footballers in Queensland.”
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