Former Wallaby Morgan joins Aces coaching team

May 04, 2007 - 3:08pm
Story by: QRU

Former Wallaby lock Garrick Morgan has been appointed Assistant Coach with the new Australian Rugby Championship team, Queensland’s East Coast Aces.

Morgan, who is currently already assisting Aces Head Coach John Boe at the Gold Coast Breakers, will specialise in the scrum and lineout.

Aces Steering Committee chairman Peter Murdoch said a number of candidates were interviewed for the role, but Morgan’s fresh and imaginative ideas about coaching the set pieces won him the job.

After a career with the Wallabies and Queensland Reds in which he earned 24 test caps and played 62 times for Queensland, Morgan moved to Europe in 1999 and played for Harlequins in the UK and Pau and Section Palois in France.

“Garrick has tremendous experience in playing elite level rugby in Australia, England and France and has drawn on that to develop his coaching ideas,” said Murdoch.

“He impressed the selection panel with a fresh and very thoughtful approach, which is part of what this team and this competition is all about – bringing fresh ideas, new faces and a fresh approach to top level rugby in Australia,” said Murdoch.

“Garrick will focus on ensuring the team has the possession that John Boe requires to play the sort of game he has in mind for the Aces,” he said.

Although Morgan has yet to obtain formal coaching accreditation above Level 1, one of the interviewing panel members who has extensive experience in the accreditation process from a previous role with the QRU, Gaven Head, said he believed Morgan would have little problem demonstrating the competencies required for Level 2 accreditation.

The Aces have also appointed experienced QRU and ARU touring team liaison officer Lonnie Toia as Team Manager and the Reds Academy’s Jarrod Presland as Strength and Conditioning Coach.

The eight team Australian Rugby Championship kicks off in August with the Aces and fellow Queensland team the Ballymore Tornadoes facing rivals from Sydney, Canberra, Perth and Melbourne.

The teams will be made up of non-Wallaby players from the four Super 14 provinces plus Academy players and the cream of the Premier club competition talent. The new competition will be played using the experimental law variations which have helped speed up the game when applied in Premier Rugby.

The East Coast Aces will be made up of players aligned with Queensland Premier Rugby clubs Easts, Souths, Sunnybank and Gold Coast Breakers, as well as the Queensland Country Heelers.

The Ballymore Tornadoes are coached by former Wallaby and Queensland flanker Chris Roche and will consist of players from the north side of the Brisbane River, whose Premier club allegiance is with the Sunshine Coast Stingrays, University, Norths, Brothers, GPS or Wests.