Former All Blacks lock and current Fortescue Academy head coach Jeremy Thrush has outlined the Club’s long-term vision for its Academy on the latest episode of the Full Force Podcast.
Podcast host Cairo Takarangi caught up with the 39-year-old to discuss a range of topics, including his All Blacks career, performing the haka, winning the 2004 IRB World Under-19 Player of the Year plus the reasons behind his move to WA.
The 11-cap All Blacks lock moved to Perth in 2019 to play in Global Rapid Rugby, but the WA club’s return to Super Rugby in 2020 saw the ex-Hurricanes star back in the competition on the back nine of his playing career.
That stretched to 2023 when he memorably came out of retirement to score a match-winning try against the Melbourne Rebels.
Earlier this year, Thrush took over as Academy head coach from now-women’s head coach Dylan Parsons having previously served as assistant coach, and he’s excited about the Academy project which has grown rapidly in the past few years.
When asked about the long-term vision, Thrush told the Full Force Podcast: “To make it a production line for the Force, so the Force head coach can come to us and say ‘we’ve lost two nines’ and we can say ‘we’ve got this nine ready to go'.
"'Yes this player hasn’t got as much experience at that level, but he knows the systems, he’s here and ready to go, we’re confident he can do a job for you and with time at that level he’s someone who’ll be a great Super Rugby player we can rely on for a long time at the Western Force'.
“If we can get 80 per cent of the Academy going into the Force Super Rugby team then we’re doing our job.”
Thrush has been working closely with the wider Academy group this year, supported by assistants Jonathon Lance and Greg Holmes.
Five Academy players are currently away with the Australia Under-20s at the Rugby Championship, with Kauri Tipene-Grace, Dane Sawers and Ronan Leahy all named to start against South Africa on Tuesday.
“The guys we’ve got here work really hard and they’re pretty driven to succeed,” Thrush said. “They all want to play for the Force which is awesome. It’s our job to help give them an environment where they feel like they care and know what the Force is about and we can push them to be that player they need to be to take the next step.
“It’s a big step to that next level of Super Rugby and we need to find ways to make it a little bit smaller with more meaningful games and tougher competition for them to experience what that feels like and for them to feel confident to take that next step.”
Listen to the full episode below:
