New Zealand Kiwis legend and South Sydney Rabbitohs great Issac Luke is set to make his coaching debut next season.
Rated as New Zealand's best player to ever wear the number nine jersey, the former Rabbitohs, Warriors, Dragons and Broncos hooker will take the reins of head coach at Marsden SHS, the old school of Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith.
The school competes in the Langer Trophy schoolboy competition.
โIn a nutshell, I never thought I'd be a coach,'' Luke said via News Corp.
โBut Madge (former coach Michael Maguire) said I had a lot of knowledge. However, I was never able to project my voice or get across what was in my head.''
In front of Luke's teammates Maguire would โask me for my thoughts and then say โsweet, we'll go with that','' Luke explained.
โAnd then in our meetings, there were big names like Sam Burgess, John Sutton and GI (Greg Inglis), but I got to a point where people were starting to listen to me.''
Speaking to News Corp, Issac Luke disclosed a short paragraph on every coach he had during his playing days in the NRL.
โJason was excellent from a details perspective and he enjoyed being around the group. He gave me my start in the NRL and I can never take that away from him. He turned me from a fullback into a hooker.''
2. John Lang (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
โHe was old school, real old school. But he was cool. I loved Langy and he gave me the confidence to be an 80 minute hooker.''
3. Michael Maguire (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
โThe first phone call I got from him (2011, off-season) was after I had made a name for myself for the cannonball tackle (in the Four Nations). But he didn't like it and he went off about the whole noise around what I had done. The best thing about Madge (Maguire) was his detail and he put an emphasis on team culture.''
4. Andrew McFadden (New Zealand Warriors)
โI enjoyed him. If I was to rank my coaches it would be Michael Maguire first, and then he and Kearney level second. He loved high energy games and I wished I had been coached by him more.''
5. Stephen Kearney (New Zealand Warriors & New Zealand Kiwis)
โHe was good in a cultural way and knew when to give you a cuddle or be hard on you.''
6. Paul McGregor (St George Illawarra Dragons)
โHe was the best-dressed coach. He looked a million dollars."
7. David Kidwell (New Zealand Maori)
โHe was at the Rabbitohs when I made my debut. Kiddie (Kidwell) actually showed Jason Taylor (coach) vision of my reserve grade games and said โyou have to give this fellow a go'.''
