‘Earn people’s trust’: How former Waratahs coach Darren Coleman is rebuilding his career at Hunter Wildfires
After being let go as NSW Waratahs’ head coach in 2024, Darren Coleman is back on the horse, developing rugby in the Hunter region of the state.
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FOR the first time since being sacked by NSW Waratahs, Darren Coleman will oversee a competitive rugby match when his Hunter Wildfires host Warringah in the opening round of the Shute Shield on Saturday in Newcastle.
But this is much bigger than just a competition match for Coleman.
“Coaching is very volatile, I’m somewhere different than where I thought I would be,” said Coleman, who was in charge of the Tahs from 2022-24, before he was replaced by Dan McKellar.
“I got bucked off the horse. I got a lot of good lessons out of it. I’m a proud guy, I want to get back there, but I’ve got to earn people’s trust and respect. I’ve got to get back to winning.
“I’ve got a responsibility to this organisation to set it up for long term success. I’ll take pride in looking back in 10 or 15 years, if I did a few years here and then moved back into the pros, that the club was well set up and its structures were good.”
The Hunter region has become a vital growth area for the game, prompting Rugby Australia to schedule only the third Wallabies Test match in history in Newcastle on July 6, against Fiji.
The Wallaroos will also host the Black Ferns in a women’s Test match there next month.
Coleman has assumed the director of rugby role at the Wildfires, while his younger brother Scott Coleman is the head coach.
“They’ve got announced with a bunch of World Cup games (Newcastle will host four pool games at RWC 2027), since I’ve been here, one of my roles outside of the on-field coaching is working with the elite pathways for kids,” Darren Coleman said.
“We’ve set up some academies in conjunction with Waratah Academy, so it’s a holistic thing to try. For me, it’s obviously to do well with the flagship team, which is our Shute Shield Wildfires team, but even on a bigger scale, I want it to become a whole part of rugby where not only Hunter kids, but these Central Coast players and particularly that northern half of NSW country, out to Tamworth and Armidale and up to the border on the coast, can come.
“Because it’s daunting, I’m a small-town country coastal kid from South West Rocks, so I remember vividly coming down to play for East out of high school, and moving to Sydney was a big thing and it was expensive and it was daunting.
“So I want to set up some opportunities for country kids to come to a high-class football program.
“We’ve got some great relationships now with the University of Newcastle. We’re invoking some scholarships there.
“We train out of their facilities, which are high quality. Like anything, you’ve got to set it up well, and you’ve got to get people believing in you to do it.”
Coleman said the focus for the Wildfires, who finished third-last in 2024 with three wins, was to make the playoffs.
They’ll rely heavily on playmaker Connor Winchester, new hooker Tevita Kaitu’u, former Melbourne Rebels lock Daniel Maiava and new centre Sione Taifui to turn their fortunes around.
While eventually Coleman would like to see Sydney-based players view Hunter as a viable destination for personal development, their primary targets will be local.
“Our primary feeder area is Hunter first and foremost, and Central Coast and NSW country, particularly with our colts recruitment, that’s where we target,” Coleman said.
“We have actually now 46 colts that are selected to play for round one, all but four of them are from either the Hunter or NSW country.
“Quite a few of those are Sydney boarding school boys that have got into Newcastle Uni. Newcastle Uni is a strong university, so there’s no doubt there will be Sydney guys.
“I’m hoping over the next couple of years when the rugby program has credibility and is winning games and people look at our facilities and coaching staff, it’s not out of the question that a good Sydney kid wants to go and study at Newcastle Uni and move up there.
“Conversely, there could be Sydney Shute Shield players that go. The cost of living in Sydney is a bit much.
“We’re open to everyone, but we do have key market targets.”
Originally published as ‘Earn people’s trust’: How former Waratahs coach Darren Coleman is rebuilding his career at Hunter Wildfires
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