Western Force is excited to announce the appointment of Damian Steele as the Club’s new Fortescue Academy manager.
Steele has been appointed to the position made vacant following Chris Goodman’s promotion to the Club’s general manager of rugby role earlier in the year.
Steele comes to the Force after being the director of rugby at Queensland Premier Rugby club Brothers, who won the 2023 Doughty Shield (club champions) and the 2023 Queensland Hospital Cup. He was also the head coach of Brothers’ elite development program for five years.
He is an experienced World Rugby Level 4 coach, certified coach educator and physical education teacher, who also worked as a Queensland Reds Under-18 coach in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Steele’s experience includes coaching stints in Japan, England, Portugal and New Zealand, the latter where he spent time within the Canterbury Crusaders set-up.
Goodman said: “We’re delighted to appoint Damian to lead our Fortescue Academy program. Having worked in rugby for 20 years, he brings a wealth of experience to the role and a demonstrated ability to lead a high-performing program given his success at Brothers.
“Damian’s work at Brothers as director of rugby and across five years in the elite development program shows that he’s the right person to lead the Force’s pathway program with a view to developing our talent into Super Rugby players and Wallabies.”
Steele commenced his role last week remotely and will re-locate from Brisbane to Perth in mid-August.
Steele said: “I have been fortunate to spend approximately 20 years working in rugby and schools in a broad range of roles from juniors through to international level, in Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Japan and England.
“I am passionate about supporting athletes and organisations to achieve their potential and am extremely excited to join the Western Force.”
