Sam Elvy Rugby League Development inspired by NFL coaching concepts
An NFL-inspired coaching concept has helped a Queensland rugby league business take off, with a number of nurtured prospects beginning to break into the elite level.
Sunshine Coast
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An NFL-inspired coaching concept has helped a Queensland rugby league business take off with a number of nurtured rugby league prospects beginning to break into the elite level.
Sam Elvy, a rugby league tragic, is moulding and watching first hand the impact that specialised positional coaching can have on rising junior players.
The 44-year-old launched his business, Sam Elvy Rugby League Development, just over 12 months ago and said he first got the idea from his love of the Dallas Cowboys and the wider NFL.
“In the NFL they’ve got so many coaches for so many different positions so I began learning as much as I could about the different positional play in rugby league and what each player needs to thrive in their craft,” he said.
“I spent probably five years of really learning each position, the skill work around it and how to transfer that knowledge.”
In February 2024 Elvy launched his one-on-one coaching business and said the response had been unreal.
“I was booked out from nearly day dot so with the help of some other coaches we ran group sessions for any junior players that showed an interest,“ he said.
Based on the Sunshine Coast, Elvy has also ran clinics and personalised sessions in Toowoomba, Cairns, New Zealand, part of New South Wales and is now looking to expand in Brisbane.
“I’ve got about 160 players that I consistently work with now and I’d say about 80 per cent of those kids are playing junior representative footy with some signing NRL and NRLW development contracts,” he said.
Current program ambassadors include local talents Tully McLellan (Storm), Tyson Fallen-May (Sea-Eagles), Zac Garton (Dolphins), Robert Darby (Cowboys) and Chase Patterson (Bulldogs) while Elvy has also worked alongside Trent Leorio (Storm) Jai Bowden (Storm), James Marriott (Warriors, Jack Underhill (Bulldogs), Zac Laybutt (Cowboys), Keoki Koraba (Sea-Eagles), James Winnett (Bulldogs) and Carter Kiernan (Dolphins).
“I remember when I first met Tyson and Jai for example, they weren’t game enough to kick out of dummy half because they’d never been shown or didn’t know what to,” he said,
“We broke it down into a couple of focus points and now they’re so confident in that area that it’s become one of their biggest assets.”
“The more IQ and knowledge that you can give to young kids to understand why they’re doing things and how we play footy it helps their game grow massively.
“Especially when you give it to them in such a 13 or 14 year age bracket and they understand it, if they train for it it’s amazing what they can achieve in such a short period of time.”
The current Western Clydesdales Pathways Development Manager said he had the utmost respect for junior club coaches.
“I take my hat off massively to these local coaches that only get two hours with these kids and a lot of people don’t realise how much effort goes into junior sports coaching,” he said.
“It’s hard enough as it is but for those players wanting to spend some extra time on their craft there’s so many avenues where their positions can be broken down in depth.”
Elvy said he felt even at the elite level some work needed to be done.
“It’s obviously a lot more full on and specific but I’ve been lucky to attend some NRL clinics and one of my biggest takeaways is they’re still hiring AFL people to come in and teach players how to kick or outside backs how to catch,” he said.
“There’s already a gap there and if that’s at the elite level imagine how much of a positive impact those teachings could have on a player coming through the ranks.”
Elvy thanked the numerous players and parents for their ongoing support as well as supporting coaches Brad Ibbs, Andrew Hinson, Gus McKellar, Dennis Moore, Luke Jurd and Lewis Burrows.
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