The other code-hopper: The mystery AFL ‘guru’ recruited by Eddie Jones

He taught a young Hawk called Lance Franklin how to kick, helped create revolutionary tactics in a four-flag Hawthorn dynasty, and is often labelled a coaching “guru”, a “genius” or even a “mad scientist in running shorts”.

But highly respected AFL coaching figure David Rath is now on board with the Wallabies, and Eddie Jones is hoping the “guru” can transfer his magic touch to the complex world of Test rugby.

After a 19-year career in the AFL, Rath was last month announced as a new member of Jones’ Wallabies coaching staff. Rath’s title is “learning co-ordinator” – effectively a bridge between analysts, coaches and players.

However, that’s likely to be only a fraction of Rath’s work with the Wallabies, the former AIS biomechanist also acknowledged in the AFL world for helping turn Hawthorn into the competition’s best kickers during their premiership run from 2013 to 2015. And, among many other things, Rath is also widely respected as an insightful trend analyst.

Rath was instrumental in helping the Hawks win the 2008 premiership with a new zone defence system most teams later copied, and the AFL even recruited him to adjust the game’s rules a decade later, to open up the game.

“He’s one of the brightest blokes I’ve met in sport generally,” Jones said.

David Rath (centre) in his days as an assistant coach with Hawthorn.Credit: John Donegan

Rath joining Jones’ staff ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup comes 20 years after he did something similar before the 2003 Rugby World Cup when he worked as a kicking consultant with Stephen Larkham and Matt Giteau.

“I have known Eddie for a long time,” Rath told the Herald. “Back when I was at the AIS, it was the late ’90s and early 2000s, and he was the Brumbies coach. We have stayed in touch since then.”

Rath was the first man hired by Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn in 2004, as head of coaching services and kicking coach to young draftee Lance Franklin, who made his debut for the Hawks in 2005.

Alistair Clarkson and David Rath at Hawthorn.Credit: John Donegan

“He had such a unique technique and the early days in his career it was, ‘Well, that’s not how you kick a football, we’d better straighten you out’,” Rath said.

“But I quite quickly changed my approach once I started working with him; to actually work with him, rather than against him. If you look at Buddy you can learn a bit about how to kick a football as well. He’s a beautiful kick of the footy.”

Rath was Clarkson’s right-hand man as they won competitions in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and finished runners-up in 2012. In 2018, Rath was hired by the AFL as the head of coaching and innovation, before joining St Kilda in 2020 as head of football.

Earlier this year, through the coaching grapevine, Rath learnt Jones was recruiting for a role for which he was perfectly suited.

“I have always held Eddie in a very high regard and the opportunity to join him was appealing,” Rath said. “I thought if I was ever going to do it, now is the time.”

Rath said the “learning co-ordinator” role will evolve when the Wallabies come together.

New Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is slowly building his coaching staff.Credit: Getty

“But at the starting point it was around being a port of call for the coaches and bridging the gap between them and the analysts, in terms of the information that’s being presented to the players, and making sure it’s landing, in a coherent and effective manner,” Rath said.

”So the messaging from the coaches to players is being promoted in an effective way, in the way they conduct their reviews and previews and walk-throughs. Pretty much all the learning content, getting across to the players in a planned and effective and strategic way. That was the starting point and from there it will evolve as we start to hit the track.“

Helping to build coaching programs involving “tactical periodisation” is also on the agenda, which in layman’s terms is training players with game scenarios at the core, as opposed to doing physical, strategic and psychological training separately.

David Rath was with St Kilda for the last three years.Credit: St Kilda

“Tactical periodisation approach tries to bring it all together, using the game as the driver as all of that,” Rath said.

Rath said he will likely work in skill acquisition as well, but specifics are yet to be worked out. So too what input Rath will be able to provide to the Wallabies from a trends analysis and innovation point of view.

But it is in this space that Rath’s value could arguably shine most. Working away from the limelight at Hawthorn, Rath was routinely described as the most influential coach you’ve never heard of, and experts say his work in shaping game trends was hugely underappreciated.

The final stage of the Hawthorn dynasty in 2015. Pictured from left: Shaun Burgoyne, Cyril Rioli, Jordan Lewis, Jarryd Roughead, Sam Mitchell, Grant Birchall, and Luke Hodge.Credit: Scott Barbour

One example was Hawthorn being the first team to shift from a traditional man-on-man defence to a predominantly zone defence in 2007. It became known as “Clarko’s cluster”.

“We were involved in some pretty good stuff in terms of playing in that space at Hawthorn, and I suppose shaped the way the game is being played,” Rath said.

“There is definitely advantage in early adopting, and at Hawthorn we were at the forefront of defence stuff, and we maybe had an 18-month window advantage over the competition. And won a premiership in 2008 off the back of that.”

Could Rath help regenerate Australia’s competitive advantage as an innovator in global rugby? Could he assess the current game trends in Test rugby and spot ways to innovate?

“I hope I can help in that space,” he said. “It is a bit presumptuous because I don’t know a lot about the game yet, and I will be coming in relatively cold in a tactical sense.

“It is a totally new sphere and, in some ways, that can be useful, because you aren’t necessarily bound by the previous ways of thinking about the game. It can help, in terms of having the freedom to explore different ideas and ways of thinking.”

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