Rugby League Coaching Manuals

By Sporting Pulse - Every player on the field can be a leader - in the actions that they do both on, and off the field. So, what does it take to be a leader? You don’t have to be named in a “leadership group” or be “captain” or even be the best player in your team. Those terms are just titles.

On the field, this includes leading by example, playing the way that your coach wants you to play, putting your body on the line for your teammates, sacrificing your game for the benefit of your team and teammates and even when having a bad game, still doing the right things by the team. After all, the only things that a captain does are the toss and lead his team out onto the field.

Off the field, a leader trains harder than anyone on the training track and sets the standard for his teammates, does the right thing by the club by not being involved in any off-field incidents and leads by example with the way that they speak in front of the media or teammates themselves.

It is also essential that a leader has a bit of character about them as well. People will want to keep watching this player during his matches or the media will want to head to all his press conferences - as he is good quality to provide some information for them also. Look at someone like Nick Maxwell from Collingwood – he’s very outspoken and enjoys a laugh as well but when it comes to playing out on the ground, he leads by example.

Not a captain, but another on-field leader is Brent Stanton, from Essendon. He runs hard all day long and does the extra work during training, which is why he is the fittest player in the competition. The extra work that you are willing to do, to not only benefit yourself but to benefit the team on match day is the pure leadership skills that you’d need to develop.