Waratahs ditch glitzy headquarters for new training base in the burbs and they couldn’t be happier
AFTER 15 years at Allianz Stadium, the Waratahs moved their base over summer to a UNSW facility. It’s only six kilometres south but the new digs are a million miles away from the plush comforts of their former home.
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“​IT’S not much to look at, but it’s ours.”
It may sound like a Sydney first homebuyer but that’s the verdict of NSW halfback Nick Phipps on the modest new Waratahs’ training headquarters in suburban Daceyville.
After 15 years at Allianz Stadium, the Tahs moved their base over summer to a UNSW facility called the David Phillips Sports Complex.
It’s only six kilometres south but the new digs are a million miles away from the plush comforts of their former Moore Park home.
The team and staff are in demountable offices and team rooms, the gym is also a temporary structure on stilts and the well-worn training pitch next to them is anything but laser-levelled.
So, in other words, it’s perfect.
Or at least it is in the eyes of newly appointed NSW state club captain Phipps, who says the basic facility is perfectly suited to a Waratahs’ outfit needing to step outside their comfort zone after a stale four-win season in 2017.
“The glitz and glamour has gone and we are just down to business,” Phipps said.
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“It’s definitely not as flashy as the SFS but to be honest that is probably what we needed, to get back into the guts of the community and to have a full functioning work space to be able to do what we need to do.
“It’s a fresh start and quite frankly, off the back of last year it is exactly what we needed. We needed that fresh start.”
The long-term plan, in collaboration with UNSW, is to build a permanent headquarters at David Phillips complex, which also has several hockey and tennis courts, and has ovals for AFL, cricket and rugby competitions too.
But for now the Waratahs organisation are enjoying life outside the cramped Moore Park sporting bubble, where booking a training field was only marginally easier to do than find a park.
Being the only team at Daceyville means the Tahs can step out of a meeting and train at any time, and access is a lot simpler for juniors and coaches to visit for clinics.
The vision of boss Andrew Hore is to create a single NSW Rugby hub for both all rep teams and the wider community, and already the under 20s and Super W teams are on site as well.
“It’s really good for us to have a place where we can get the whole lot and make it a NSW Rugby hub, as opposed to being so splintered and scattered all over the joint,” Phipps said.
“That image of being the Paddington Waratahs (is removed) as well. We are out here in Daceyville ... it is great place and it is deadset in the guts of the community. There are lots of junior teams around.”
The tight confines mean cleanliness is strictly enforced and a lack of cafes nearby have forced a Nescafe Blend 43 revival for some brave souls.
But a “hidden” location has forced the team — and the wider staff — to bond in new ways, too.
“It’s not like blokes are shooting off to Azure (cafe at Allianz Stadium) and sitting in the cafe for three hours,” Phipps said.
“We have board games, a ping pong competition, we hung a basketball hoop up. Blokes are getting around each other a lot more and Hoops (captain Michael Hooper) is also massive on the “no Phones in the team area” rule. It is funny, some of the younger blokes who are so tech savvy, it’s great seeing them taking the mick out of each other on a board game or in ping pong. It’s great to see that.”