Inside the world of Alex Prates, the Brazilian tutoring NRL stars in grappling
One of rugby league’s most successful wrestling coaches talks secret training sessions with Payne Haas, awarding a Brazilian jiu jitsu belt to Paul Gallen and why Cameron Smith could win a real grappling competition.
EXTEND: Stuart set for new deal
RETURN SERVE: Seibold slams Demetriou
Payne Haas started his NRL season catching secret flights out of Brisbane.
Specifically, every Monday morning in March.
And for a month.
Officially, rugby league’s most promising teenager was suspended.
Outed for those first four rounds of the NRL season because, well, the young Brisbane prop refused to aid an Integrity Unit investigation involving his family.
But unofficially?
“Payne was with me,” says Alex Prates, one of Australia’s most respected martial artists. “And he was working.”
Wasn’t he what?
Flying into Sydney early each Monday, Haas would then be shuttled 70 minutes west to Prates’ Gracie Jiu Jitsu gym.
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A small, if somewhat notorious, proving ground that, wedged into the backstreets of a Smeaton Grange industrial area, would be his sole training ground until late Wednesday night.
Twice a day, Haas was on the mats.
Grappling, wrestling, even throwing hands until, exhausted, he would be taken to a nearby motel with three stars on its sign.
Then next morning, up to go again.
And for every week of his NRL suspension — under the instruction of coach Anthony Seibold — this 19-year-old prodigy was sent south to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt who has worked with Cronulla, South Sydney and, now this year, the Broncos.
And the results?
Well, seven games after returning from Camp Prates, and with just 10 NRL games in total, Haas earned himself a NSW Origin debut.
Which is some feel-good story, right?
Same deal Souths skipper Sam Burgess, after the 2014 grand final siren, and with his cheekbone busted and eye socket fractured, crossing the ANZ Stadium turf to throw an oversized right arm around the Brazilian instructor who, that year, was debuting on the Bunnies payroll.
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“Be proud,” the grappling coach was told as, through busted jaw, Burgess began celebrations 43 years in the making. “You’re a big part of this”.
Want more?
OK, speak with Kangaroo incumbent Damien Cook.
That unstoppable force who early last year, and on his way to becoming both a NSW and Australian No.9, spent hours of each week at that same Gracie gym, quietly training every defensive deficiency from his game.
Not that Prates has ever wanted praise.
Nor feels he deserves it.
“Because it’s the guys training hardest that get results,” says the instructor who has also worked closely with St George Illawarra rake Cam McInnes, awarded a blue belt to Paul Gallen, even taught the children of Canberra coach Ricky Stuart how to grapple.
“What I do, there’s no magic to it.”
Which is why this week, and because of everything above, League Central has asked Prates to speak.
Understanding that right now in rugby league, the position of NRL wrestling coach is under more pressure than even the Melbourne Storm could administer.
And it’s because while wrestling has been ingrained since before coach Frank Stanton had his Kangaroos grappling in the 1980s — and likely before Souths prop Jim Armstrong won Olympic wrestling bronze in 1948 — it’s the worrying increase of dirty tactics that has many fuming.
Only last week, Rabbitohs GM Shane Richardson accused the Storm of deliberately trying to injure opponents. While in The Daily Telegraph’s pages, an unnamed NRL coach warned that contemporaries were having illegal tactics taught because, well, win the wrestle, win the game.
“We have a moral choice whether we want to play within the spirit of the rules,” the coach told colleague Paul Kent. “Wrestling coaches don’t have that moral choice.
“It’s what they do in their sport.
“But it’s not our sport. If you hand over control to the wrestling coaches they will take it over.”
Prates, however, disagrees.
Initially contacted to discuss Storm skipper Cameron Smith — and, specifically, his grappling excellence — the conversation instead went much deeper for this Brazilian cattle rancher who emigrated in 2001 after almost being killed in an armed robbery.
Quizzed on the furore consuming his profession, Prates says: “I can only tell you that, personally, I’ve never taught anything illegal — never, ever.
“Of course, you want your players to be aggressive, to be relentless and put the opposition onto his back.
“And when an opponent’s running, yes, he is fair game.
“But to deliberately hurt a guy on the ground? No.
“The way I see it, we have all have kids and families to go home to. So no bullshit.
“If anyone ever asks me to teach against the rules, you’ve lost yourself a coach.”
And as Prates’ resume confirms, he isn’t a guy worth losing.
Same deal Jamie Te Huna, the retired UFC light heavyweight now employed by St George Illawarra.
Within Australian MMA circles, you would be hard pressed to find a more respected pair of men.
Not only for their knowledge, work ethic and widespread success — Prates also trains UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker — but the code that sees students of Gracie Smeaton Grange use the shower after training based not on standing, or belt colour, but age.
Which means if you’re a white belt older than Whittaker, then yes, you get to tub up before the greatest middleweight on earth.
Which no matter your take on prize-fighting, is important to understand.
“And maybe there are bad coaches out there,” continues Prates, who is also now opening a Gracie gym in Artarmon. “But I don’t know what anyone else is doing.
“And, yes, I’ve heard people talk about getting the wrestle out of rugby league.
“But that motion of making contact, of putting a guy’s back onto the ground, you can call it whatever you like but that’s grappling.
“And to do that well, there’s no magic.
“Like anything in life, consistency and hard work equals results.”
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Smith.
That contentious Storm skipper who, despite being outed for that alleged ‘Wingnut’ tackle on Canberra’s Bailey Simonsson, was strenuously defended on NRL 360 by fellow players Benji Marshall and James Graham.
Regardless of anyone’s take on Smith, Prates says there is no denying the grappling expertise of the 90kg future Immortal who — dubbed ‘The Accountant’ because of his everyman physique — has not only survived over 400 games against larger rivals, but excelled.
“Cameron Smith could compete in a grappling competition here locally and do well,” Prates insists. “It’s the feel he has for it, almost like it’s second nature.
“And that only comes from hours and hours of practice.
“But you have to remember that hookers aren’t big men. Yet they have a lot of big men running at them.
“And while I’ve never worked with Cameron, I have worked with guys like Isaac Luke, Cam McInnes, Damien Cook and now Andrew McCullough.
“And all of those guys, they’re incredibly tough.
“Have to know grappling too. Have to understand how to move bigger bodies.
“Without that, they don’t survive … it’s natural selection.”
ALEX PRATES ON …
CAMERON SMITH
“Guys say they want to learn wrestling for rugby league, but they forget it’s the space between the notes that makes the music. You know what I mean? Attention must be given to the art as a whole. You learn the art of wrestling, you learn the art of jiu jitsu and then you apply that on the field. That’s what I think Cameron does. And it’s a consequence of the person he is.”
PAYNE HAAS
“Great kid, and hard worker. I’ll tell you another thing, he can really box too. Payne could be a fighter. And I’m not talking about those fights we’ve seen lately with NRL players. If we had him in the gym for three months, man, you pick your opponent. He’s got such natural ability, it’s scary to think about what he could do.”
PAUL GALLEN
“I remember the 2012 off-season, Paul training jiu jitsu at my gym six days a week. Never missed a day. Monday through Saturday he would arrive with his uniform ready to train, a model student. Can really grapple, too. I actually gave Paul his blue belt. And I’m telling you, I would never give a belt that wasn’t deserved. Robert Whittaker’s trained with me eight years and I’ve given one belt to him.”
RICKY STUART
“When Rick was coaching Cronulla, he’d bring his kids in to train at my gym. They were only young — seven, maybe eight — and one day he asked if I’d be interested in doing some work with the team. And I’m forever grateful for that. I know he’s not for everyone but, definitely, Rick would be a good coach for me. I used to have this little steel cage in my gym and sometimes he’d bring in two underperforming forwards and say ‘Alex … gloves, punch up’. So I’d put them in the cage, lock the door … and then we’d see a fight.”
ILLEGAL MOVES
“I’ve never, ever taught anything that’s illegal. I think it’s stupid to be honest. Deliberately hurt the guy? The way you hurt your opponent is tackle him hard. The guy running, he’s fair game. You can do things within the rules and I always work hard to keep it clean. Plus, I’m afraid of giving away penalties, I really am.”
MATT LODGE
“Matt has also been flying to Sydney this year for a lot of extra sessions. And you can see it on the field, see that time on the mat. Whenever he comes down to visit family, or when he’s in Sydney for things like the Emerging NSW Origin camp, he comes out to the gym.”
MELBOURNE GRAPPLING COACH JOHN DONEHUE
“I’ve come across him but never met him. He’s a Melbourne guy, I’m from Sydney.”
MAKING NSW ORIGIN PLAYERS
“I don’t like this idea that they work with me and (play for NSW). That’s not right. The guys who put in the work like Damien Cook and Payne Haas, they get the results. Payne doesn’t drink, works very hard. That’s why he made the NSW side. I’m lucky to be involved with him.”
MICHAEL MAGUIRE
“In a word: Workaholic. Madge is also such a great, humble, guy. At Souths I could always talk to him, offer up ideas, which he was always open to.”
RUGBY LEAGUE
“I arrived here in 2001 with no idea about the sport. But on weekends now, I watch every game. I love rugby league. You have no idea, my wife is always going crazy at me for watching so much NRL. But I’m just so blessed. Initially, I was a baggage handler at Qantas. I’m so lucky to be involved with so many great athletes.”
NRL WRESTLING COACHES
“Two things happen in rugby league, you run and you tackle. So if every NRL club uses a sprint coach for running, why not a coach to help you tackle? It’s natural.”
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