The Western Force coaching group for the upcoming Swyftx Super Rugby Women’s season has been confirmed with Martin Asiata joining the four-man group.
Dylan Parsons will again lead the coaching group as head coach, with continuity among his assistants with Chris Heiberg (scrum specialist coach) and Dwayne Grace (assistant coach - defence) alongside him.
They’ll be joined by Asiata as assistant coach – forwards. Asiata is firmly entrenched in WA rugby coaching, taking up a variety of roles over the past few years.
He assisted with the Force Super Rugby U16s this year, along with the WA U18 Boys on the Sunshine Coast last year. He’s also worked as a RugbyWA development officer and was part of the Wanneroo Championship winning Premier Grade coaching group last year.
Head coach Parsons said retaining continuity with his assistants along with adding Asiata was a major boost for the Super W squad.
“It’s a really well-rounded group in how we support each other in our different areas,” Parsons said.
“That means the girls are getting more coaching across the whole squad, with so many having diverse skills within this group.”
Asiata linked up with the Super W squad in January, helping him embed himself among the squad and build relationships and connection.
Parsons said Asiata’s addition would aid the forwards around set-piece working with Heiberg.
“It’s an exciting progression to have another forwards coach with Marty,” Parsons said.
“A big part of Marty’s focus is the line-out and he’ll compliment Heizy (Heiberg) whose area is around the scrum. Those two working together really gives us an opportunity to have more coaching across our set piece.
“Marty has developed his coaching within the RugbyWA pathway which has had some good mentoring and alignment with Heizy. To have two set piece specialist coaches in this season is another big step in the professionalism of this program.”
Parsons was delighted to retain Heiberg and Grace alongside him, having helped the side achieve back-to-back semi-finals appearances in their two seasons together.
“It’s really good continuity with Pugsy (Grace) building on what he’s been doing the last couple of seasons,” Parsons said. “He’s a well-respected coach within the community and within our playing group.”
The Force will fly out for Sydney this weekend, taking on the Manly Marlins on Sunday in the side’s first pre-season trial game, before travelling to Canberra to face the ACT Brumbies the following Saturday.
The Force’s Super W campaign commences on Saturday 13 June away to the Fijian Drua, after the Round 1 bye.
The Force will play home Super W fixtures on Saturday 20 June at Wanneroo Rugby Union Club and Saturday 27 June at Palmyra Rugby Club with both games free entry.
All Super W regular season games are live on Stan Sport.
