With the AFL Grand Final completed over the weekend, attention now shifts to the NRL Grand Final. For two of the great coaches of the game, one shall be chasing a record breaking NRL Premiership with three different clubs and one shall be wondering what went wrong, missing out this year after being part of 9 of the last 14 Grand Finals. Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy, having coached nearly 1400 top flight games between them and with 34 years and 18 years experience coaching high performance teams respectively, what’s their points of commonality and what sets them apart from other coaches in the NRL? With ten premierships and counting between them, how do the one-time master and his former apprentice still continue to be trailblazers in their sport after many years? On the build up to NRL Preliminary and Grand Finals, there is plenty of technical and tactical analysis yet it’s been some reports off the field which have grabbed my attention around the how and why they maintain player motivation and focus.

Team environments offer layered complexities, having potentially multiple coaches, players and socially dynamic groups within so let’s explore how leadership strategies and roles of individuals and the team inside these groups affects cohesion and performance. Good teams recognised to have good leaders have strong social connectedness, which goes hand in hand with task leadership, as displays higher level of collective efficacy (Fransen, 2015). The quality of social support received is critical to group success and player satisfaction; while important to receive social support from coach-athlete relationship, the increased pressure to ensure the player does not let down their parts within the relationship can lower autonomy and intrinsic motivation through perceived controlling behaviours. What different styles affect the social dynamics of the group as well as team cohesion and success? What ways have been used to develop young leaders (or leaders of all ages)? Understanding these, let’s try and understand how does leadership and coaching influence each other?

As highlighted by athletes such as Biles, Osaka and Keary over the past few months, prioritising their mental well being over measures of success or performance based outcomes takes a lot of support from their support network both within and outside their sport yet asking the difficult questions amongst coaches reading this; how can we identify and support athletes going through these tough periods? What factors or coaching methodologies can assist positive developmental experiences? How can our coaching connection and communication engage and interact to understand and support any difficult or overwhelming experiences?

The greatest transfer speculation in soccer’s recent (or possibly all) history has finally happened and the 6 time Ballon d’Or award winner has made his move to PSG from the club he joined as a 13 year old. Earlier this month, Barcelona said that Messi will not be staying at the club “because of financial and structural obstacles”. However, it’s not the timing or the transfer fee which grabbed my attention; it was the tears in the final interview as a Barcelona player.

What factors were at play to see one of the greatest ever players be in tears to leave this home of 21 years? What cultural or coaching influences created such a strong bond to see Messi in tears to leave? What coaching methodologies could we introduce or adopt to see this level of commitment and passion towards our team or club culture?

Toyoko Olympics is underway and Aussie’s focus has started in the pool. As the medal tally starts to grow, as does media and public attention. As reported in many sports channels, Dean Boxall is the QLD based swim coach who just became the newest sports meme around the world. His now famous and emotional reaction when Ariarne Titmus touched ahead of fierce rival, US legend Katie Ledecky, to claim gold in the 400m freestyle final is one of the moments of the Toyoko Games thus far.

With both a large number of elite swimmers under his wing and this publicized punishing schedule, what ideas or techniques from sports research shows that caring, even loving coaches can still develop high performances on the biggest of stages? How do caring coaches create competitive athletes??