Wrestlemania
Newcastle Herald
Thursday February 14, 2008
THEY are the men responsible for helping the Newcastle Knights come to grips literally with the science and techniques of dominating the ruck.
But before rugby league fans raise a suspicious eyebrow at wrestling coaches Grant Lawrence and Graham Waerea, they would like to make it clear that dark arts like the grapple tackle, "crusher" and "ripper" are not part of their repertoire.They are also, head coach Brian Smith explains, not part of some new-fangled wrestling revolution in the NRL."I've had wrestling coaches working with players virtually everywhere I've ever been," Smith said."It's not a new phenomenon at all. "It's probably just that Melbourne took things to a different level, and because they were so successful and the media are always looking for a story, it became known that their wrestling coach had a bit of a profile as a cage wrestler or whatever he is."It all got beaten up as some sort of brand-new trend that had crept into the game, but I was speaking to someone at the NRL coaches' conference who said he had a wrestling coach when he was playing in the '70s."Smith said Lawrence and Waerea were instructing his players several times each week about methods that would help them become more effective in defence and how to counter similar tactics when they were in possession of the ball."Even before the NRL brought in the more stringent rules with regard to grapple tackles, I stressed that I wanted nothing to do with anything involving head or neck contact," Smith said."They took that on board, and I don't think we were penalised at all last year for grapple tackles . . . there are a number of things they are trying to help us with."Energy expenditure is one of the main areas. "If you can have two or three guys working together, using their bodies in combination to get a player onto the ground, it helps minimise the energy you have to expend."We're also interested in techniques that help us produce dominant tackles, because if you can win the battle of the ruck it goes a long way towards winning the game."Lawrence and Waerea, who both train under Jamie Ballard at Newcastle Fight Gym in Mayfield, combine rugby league backgrounds with their Brazilian jujitsu submission-wrestling expertise.Lawrence, a 33-year-old sales executive, played league for Singleton, and Waerea, a 30-year-old coal miner, once trialled with the North Queensland Cowboys and also played for South Newcastle.Both said they see examples of illegal wrestling techniques in every NRL game they watch on TV and agree such practices should be heavily policed."Probably the quickest and most effective way to gain control of your opponent is by locking the head or the neck," Waerea said."But in rugby league it's also very dangerous, because there are a lot of big bodies in motion and the risk of injury is very high."But we've worked closely with Brian and his staff to ensure their players don't cross any lines. "Hopefully the techniques we've taught them will ensure the referees don't have any cause to penalise them for illegal holds this season." Lawrence and Waerea started working with the Knights on a voluntary basis last year and secured a part-time contract this season."We really liked the way they went about their work," Smith said."They're professional, adaptive and very analytical in how they approach it. And they're both good fellas. They're part of the Knights now."Asked which Knights players showed the most wrestling potential, Lawrence provided an instant response."Steve Simpson easily," he said. "He just has so much natural strength."On a pound-for-pound basis, Danny Buderus would be right up there, too."
© 2008 Newcastle Herald