Wallabies World Cup: Former Cronulla Sharks star Phil Bailey now defence coach for American Eagles

IF it weren’t for a dodgy Achilles tendon, Phil Bailey might have spent the past few years as a Commando fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Phil Bailey during Penrith v Cronulla Sharks NRL game at Credit Union Australia (CUA) Stadium in Sydney.

IF it weren’t for a dodgy Achilles tendon, Phil Bailey might have spent the past few years as a Commando fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Life and luck, however, took Bailey on a different path.

Instead of being a soldier, the former Cronulla, NSW and Kangaroos back rower will be at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday morning as part of the USA Eagles’ coaching staff when they take on the Wallabies.

Using his NRL background as a foundation, Bailey has been the defensive coach for the US Rugby team for the past two years.

But the 35-year-old is not only set to join the Eagles at the Rugby World Cup this month but, counting Les Kiss and Eddie Jones as mentors, Bailey is keen to follow in Kiss’s footsteps and expand into a top-flight rugby union coach.

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“He is my blueprint really, I follow Kissy as in he did the defensive stuff there with NSW and Ireland for a long period of time and then he jumped into the attacking side, was caretaker coach of Ireland for a little bit and now he is off to Ulster as Director of Rugby after the World Cup,” Bailey said.

“So I look at his plan and trajectory where he integrated himself into rugby and picked up as much knowledge as he could, and that’s what I would like to do as well.”

Phil Bailey at Cronulla training in 2004.

Bailey’s career path could have taken a very different trajectory after he retired from a respectable 12-year rugby league career that saw him play for Manly, the Northern Eagles, Cronulla and Wigan, and in three Origins for NSW and four Tests on the 2003 Kangaroo tour.

When Bailey returned home in 2010 he applied to join the Australian army.

“I was going through direct entry into the second Commando regiment, out of Sydney,” Bailey said.

“I was a bit old, you had to be under 30 and I was a bit over it but they waived it and said we will let you in because we want athletes like yourself.

“I went through a couple of interviews but ultimately I was ruled out medically unfit because I tore my achilles at Wigan. It was a bit disappointing but I just had to get on to the next stage of life.”

That next stage was a move to New York with his American girlfriend, now wife, and it was there he joined the New York Athletic Club.

“They played rugby there so I played for a year and then coached, and one of the NYAC guys was head coach of the Eagles and he invited me to join the staff, that was in November 2013,” Bailey said.

Bailey had stayed in touch with Kiss, who’d coached him at the Northern Eagles, and he tapped him up for advice on how to make his way as a code-convert coach.

“The natural progression is the league guys take defence roles and then you slowly build your expertise in rugby and all the fine arts and dark arts, scrums and so on, and then you move in further,” Bailey says.

“Kissy has helped me out a number of times, like Ireland played Scotland before we did so Kissy pretty much gave me their game plan that mapped out everything. He’s been great.”

So too has Jones, who Bailey has spent much time with in the past two years due to Japan and America being regular tier 2 Test opponents

“Every time we are in the same city around the world we catch up and have a coffee,” Bailey said.

“He has been very helpful in giving me a bit of knowledge and helping pop me on the rails, telling me what I need to know.”

Bailey’s progression has already started to take shape. After the World Cup he will move to Hong Kong after recently accepting the head coach role of the 129-year-old Hong Kong Football Club.

Before all of that, however, is a clash with the Wallabies and Bailey is very excited about the challenge of taking on his home country.

“It’s a great challenge. I was lucky enough to be part of when the All Blacks were here and there were 65,000 people at Soldier Field in Chicago, “ Bailey said.

“It really put America on the map when the All Blacks came over, so the Aussies have jumped on the back of that which is great.

“It will be good to see those guys play, there’s a couple of leagues in there. Israel obviously, and I think Cheik was even a leaguie too back in the day wasn’t he?” Bailey asked.

“The Aussies will be a step up in class and it will be our last big hit-out before we head off. They’re a very, very good outfit and will give our guys a taste of what’s in store for them over the next four weeks.

You want to do the best you can but the result is not everything, we just want to put a performance on the park we can be proud of.”

The US are aiming for two wins at the World Cup in a pool that offers hope to many, with South Africa, Scotland, Samoa and Japan all aspiring for finals.

America have won a total three games at six World Cups.

Originally published as Wallabies World Cup: Former Cronulla Sharks star Phil Bailey now defence coach for American Eagles