The NSW Waratahs Women, now in their third week of pre-season training, have recruited former AFL Premiership-winning player, Nick Davis, as their kicking coach.
Davis, whose ten-year AFL career saw him play for Collingwood and the Sydney Swans (including 2005 when they won the AFL Premiership), is not new to the game of rugby.
Since retiring as a player in 2008, Davis has turned to coaching, and in a range of roles with the Sydney Swans where he is now Assistant Coach of their AFLW side.
He has also worked as a kicking coach in the NRL with the Cronulla Sharks and the Sydney Roosters with whom he even played for in the 2020 Nines tournament.
He also followed rugby since his childhood in the Sutherland Shire. And the opportunity to join the NSW Waratahs Women as a kicking coach came when he met NSW Waratahs Head Coach Michael Ruthven during a visit to the Sydney Swans AFLW six months ago.
“We were chatting [about] my role, and some of my other roles around some other sporting teams in and around the Sydney area,” Davis said. “The opportunity came up to join the Waratahs Women, and I jumped at it. I'm really looking forward to it.”
Davis said his remit at the NSW Waratahs Women is to: “Make as many people be able to kick the ‘footy’ as possible. Having a background in the three codes, growing up in Sydney; playing not as much union as I did, AFL and League, but having a bit of an idea to be able to bring … the key components of kicking over is my main thing.”
Asked how the skill sets in kicking in AFL can transfer to union, Davis said: “Some fundamentals are transferable across the two codes. There are differences, in terms of the shape of the football, how that needs to contact your foot. And some technical parts of the game are different … [such as] kicking the ball at different heights and speeds.
“But I'm keen to learn about that. But my main thing is to get the girls kicking.”
When it comes to developing kickers, Davis says while there are kickers who are ‘naturals’ in the skill; players can develop into kickers and with their own styles.
“There are some absolute naturals that, as a kicking coach, you're more than happy to see in the team,” Davis said.
“But the most important thing is that everyone kicks a ball individually.
“As a coach, you don't want to try to make everyone kick the same way. It's [about] looking at each athlete, understanding their body shape, their type, their skill set, and working out, ‘What are the best ways to make them kick efficiently for their position? ‘”
Davis is excited by what he has seen at NSW Waratahs Women training. “We [have] a wide variety of kickers, a good number of kickers and in different positions,” Davis said.
“It's important that we can spread the load around, don't be too predictable to an opposition, and have as many people out there with as many weapons as we can get.
“I [am] really excited … and am looking forward to building that through the pre-season.”
Davis comes to the NSW Waratahs with a mind well dialled into rugby union. Despite his focus on AFL when playing for the Sydney Swans, Davis would find time to watch rugby.
“I grew up in Sydney, down in the Sutherland Shire,” Davis said.
“So, there would be many Sundays where I would go down to Southern Districts at Foreshore Oval on an ‘off’ day to get away from the AFL.
“I took an interest as well in Super Rugby because sometimes you just get so consumed with your own sport, you're looking for an outlet.
“And that is probably advantage I did have from growing up in Sydney, that I was able to have two other football codes I could connect into.”
Asked what position in rugby would have suited him best had he chosen the fifteen-a-side game over AFL, Davis cited five-eighth. “I'd be ten,” he said.
“I'd like to get the ball in my hands as much as I can, have an option to pass it and kick it. I could sit under a high ball, but I'd like to be up front and steering the team around.”
