Kiama was a long way from home for most of the Melbourne players who set up camp on the South Coast this week but for a key member of the coaching staff it was a homecoming of sorts.
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For attack coach and former Batemans Bay local Adam O’Brien, training at Kiama Showground brought back plenty of memories – not all of them good – from his time as a visiting player with the Tigers.
“It was always a hard place to play, it was always blowing a gale and in the early 2000s when I finished up the Knights had a pretty good side so it was pretty formidable place to play,” O’Brien recalled this week.
“I played most of my footy in Group Seven so I played their a lot against the Knights so it certainly took me back a bit this week.”
O’Brien’s time with the Tigers opened the door to begin his coaching career at Melbourne as an assistant to current Parramatta head coach Brad Arthur who had a stint as captain coach of the Bay in the late 90s.
“I played first grade footy with Brad down in Batemans Bay and he ended up coaching the 20s at Melbourne and he got me on board to give him a hand there,” O’Brien said.
“He moved on and I’ve stuck with the club. After the 20s I moved into a development role and I got promoted up to being Craig’s [Bellamy] assistant in 2013.
“The good thing about Bellyache is he treats his coaches like he treats his players and if you do the work you can make your way up so I’m very thankful to be there.”
O’Brien’s time in development roles at the club has seen him work with many of the stars of the current NRL side including the likes of Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor, Jordan McLean and Dragons captain Gareth Widdop.
“In 2009 we managed to win the 20s premiership and if you look at that side there were guys like Jesse Bromwich, Jordan McLean and Kevin Proctor,” O’Brien said.
“They’re all part of one of the strongest packs in the NRL at the moment so we were pretty fortunate.
“All those guys, and guys likes Tohu Harris, Cameron Munster and Young Tonumaipea who’ve come through since all worked really hard. They were always in the gym at 5.30 in the morning and then back at night so I’ve really seen that progression and it’s good to see them come through together.
“They’re coming up against a guy that was in that premiership-winning team with them this week in Gareth Widdop so it’s good to see so many of those guys from years ago doing so well in the NRL competition.”
Now working as attack coach, O’Brien is faced with the task of keeping the attack firing in the absence of it’s key plank Cooper Cronk who is currently on Origin duty.
“Looking after the outside backs and our halves is my main role but I look after the team’s general attack,” O’Brien said.
“Craig [Bellamy] looks after the defence and Jason Ryles looks after our forwards and I combine our edge attack with the forwards and run that.
“We’re very fortunate to have Greeny [Blake Green] who’s got a very good football brain so when Coops isn’t there we don’t lack too much in terms of direction. Greeny’s more than capable of doing that and while Tohu’s not really a half he’s played there for New Zealand.
“The guys that come in at this time understand what’s required of them so while you can’t replace a guy of cooper’s calibre we’ve got guys there we think can do a job for us.
“We don’t expect anyone to go out there and be Cooper Cronk or Billy Slater we still expect them to get there job done to the level they’re at and what the team requires at the time.”
