Eagles fly high with top coach
EAST Campbelltown Eagles Sydney Shield coach Richard Barnes revels in the underdog status.
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East Campbelltown Eagles Sydney Shield coach Richard Barnes revels in the underdog status.
Barnes, of Ruse, 43, has served as a senior coach at the club for nine years and in that time the Eagles have enjoyed a huge amount of success.
Not only is the side the reigning 2016 Sydney Shield Premiers but the team also previously won the title in their first year in the competition in 2014 and reached the semi-finals in 2015.
“I try to get the best out of the players and make them want to play for each other,’’ Barnes said.
“We’re the underdogs and we’re showing that the boys from Campbelltown can make it with the boys from other areas.’’
The East Campbelltown Eagles beat the Mounties powerhouse to win last year’s premiership.
Barnes said the result was a sweet victory because Mounties had won 21 games in a row and the Campbelltown Eagles were given next to no chance of winning.
“It was an amazing result and we have an amazing amount of talent,’’ he said.
Barnes said there was no secret to success, apart from hard work.
“It’s not just me. It’s a combination of the senior players, good management, the boys who go out on the field every week and luck,’’ he said.
Last year, the Eagles reserve grade, under-19s, under-10s and under-9s also won their premierships.
The Sydney Shield season 2017 starts on Saturday and the East Campbelltown Eagles are defending their premiership title without players Ben Baker, Michael Stevens, Sama Sauvao and Guy Thompson this year.
Barnes said he had no expectations on how the Eagles would fare in the Sydney Shield this year, preferring to give the players time to gel as a team at the start of the season and then reviewing their progress a few weeks into the competition.
“If we go good at the right end of the year, we have a good chance at giving it (the premiership title) another shake,’’ he said.
He is also coaching son Justin, 23, who returns to play for the Eagles’ Sydney Shield side as a hooker.
Barnes is regarded by some at the East Campbelltown Eagles as the most successful coach in the history of rugby league in the Macarthur region.
While there have been concerns in the community that rugby league was in decline in the Macarthur region, Barnes said he could not put his finger on the reason why some players got to age 15 or 16 and did not continue in the sport.
He felt there were still opportunities for talented players to progress in the sport and gave the example of former East Campbelltown Eagles player Tim Lafai, who now plays for the NRL side the Dragons as a winger.
Barnes, a father-of-two, who works as an installation manager, grew up in Campbelltown and played rugby league at club level for Eagle Vale before injury ended his playing career in 2006.
When that club folded, he moved to Campbelltown Eagles and put his hand up to coach soon after.
He said the East Campbelltown Eagles, whose home-ground is at Waminda Oval, was a family orientated club.
That focus is arguably another reason the club is so successful.
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