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Bond Rugby names Premier coaching class of 2022

Grant Anderson has been re-signed as Bond University Rugby head coach. PICTURE: CAVAN FLYNN

 

By Pat McLeod

Bond University Rugby has unveiled an exciting new look to their men’s Premier Grade coaching panel.

Grant Anderson has been re-signed as head coach and joining him as assistant First Grade coaches will be Damon Virtue (attack) and Andrew Fraser (defence).

Director of Bond Rugby, Luca Liussi, said the coaching appointments were part of a significant shift forward for the club.

“Obviously we have some pretty big goals for 2022 and on-field success across all grades, especially First Grade men and women, are certainly part of that,” he said.

“To achieve that success, continued development and growth of our off-field resources, especially our coaches, is required and these announcements are at the core of that.”

Both Virtue and Fraser are not new faces at Bond. Virtue was Second Grade coach this year and has an extensive coaching CV, including being Head Coach at Sunnybank from 2017-19. During his stint with Sunnybank he also took the Brisbane City Under 19 team to an NRC championship.

The Level Four coach joined the Bond Rugby coaching ranks in 2020 and was also a Reds Super W assistant coach that year. Just recently he guided the Bull Sharks men’s team to gold in the inaugural Queensland State Sevens Championships.

“I’m very excited to be assistant coach to Ando,” Virtue said. “Especially after the sevens win, the boys have had a taste of success and they want more.”

Fraser was part of the Bull Sharks’ Colts program before gaining vital experience with the Hunter Wildfires in NSW’s Shute Shield in 2021.

The former policeman has a long history coaching throughout NSW and is also excited about 2022.

“I am incredibly happy to be back at Bond,” he said. “The coaching and playing talent here is pretty amazing and I have no doubt there will be something special coming out of Bond next year.”

Liussi said Virtue’s appointment was a reward and acknowledgement of what he had achieved already as a coach.

“It is also a pointer to our overall coaching ethos here at Bond. ‘Ando’ (Grant Anderson) has a primary role as first grade coach,” said Liussi.

“However, his role will also have a focus on coaching development and a collaboration and sharing of resources across all coaches and all grades.

“This will in no way dilute his main role with the Premier Grade, but what it will do is allow him to use the skill sets of all coaches that we have in our club. It opens up so many opportunities.

“Coaches are just like players, they have aspirations as well – to improve, to be better coaches. Our structure will move more towards not only improving all our coaches, but also ensuring that players in all grades get the best of what we have to offer from our coaches.”

Anderson said he was ‘enormously happy’ to not only continue as Head Coach at Bond, but to also be the central figure in developing all coaches at Bond.

“The result will be better players, better coaches and a stronger club,” he said.

“This is something Luca and I have spoken about for some time. Coaching development is an area that is very important to me.

“I know what my primary focus is – for our first grade team to be successful. But aligned with that is growing the quality of our coaching ranks. Too often in Australia coaches are too protective of their patch. They don’t want ‘better’ people around them.

“The reason I want Damon and Andrew with me in first grade is that I believe, in certain areas, they are better than me.

“I am very confident in the head coach role, but I know I don’t have all the answers all the time.

“Damon is not only a very experienced and skilled coach, he is already respected by the playing group and is excellent at building positive relationships within teams.

“Andrew is a very knowledgeable coach. He is also based at Lennox Head and strengthens our relationship with that northern NSW region.

“The 2022 season will be a big year for Bond. I am really excited by many things – being back as head coach, the coaching changes, the long list of players we have retained and some very good new players coming on board.

“There is a lot to look forward to.”

Liussi said Bond Rugby’s complete coaching roster would be released over the next couple of weeks with full pre-season training starting in January.

“The coaching list is almost complete, with just a couple of minor tweaks to be made,” he said. “Currently all grades are involved in strength training at our High Performance Training Centre.”

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