There was no need for the Werribee Bears to send out a search party for a new head coach – the right person for the job was under their noses the whole time.
Joe Diamond had previous involvement with the club as a parent, watching his son play in the juniors. Little did other parents know that Diamond had played rugby league at the top level in Australia, and abroad, in his hey-day.
“I’ve got a little bloke who has been there a season, so I was kind of hanging around in the back as a dad and heard they were looking for a coach,” Diamond told
Star Weekly.
“I didn’t say too much, but I played professionally in the ’80s and ’90s; I kind of held back to just let the little bloke have a go.”
Diamond was approached by Bears’ president James Te Whata when Phil Pese vacated the coaching position at the end of last season.
Diamond applied and was given the post.
He believes his experience on and off the field will help shape the senior culture at the Bears.
It is important to him that senior players are great role models, first and foremost for the youngsters coming up the ranks.
“It’s a pretty family-oriented club, which is what I wanted for my young bloke,” the Footscray Primary School sports teacher said.
“I’d like him to have role models in rugby league, and I want to make sure that when he gets to that level, he’s got a bunch of A-graders he can model off.
“I want my club to be known as a good club, a humble club; they’re small aims that can change a whole club.”
Diamond came through the same youth team as the great Wendell Sailor, at St Patrick’s Mackay. He represented Australia as a five-eighth at junior level, and went on to play with the Western Reds.
When the Reds folded, Diamond had an offer to join Melbourne Storm for their inaugural season, but he turned it down to play English Super League with Warrington Wolves.
“They came to us with contracts just as the Super League was coming in; they gave me an option to go and play for this club in Melbourne, or go and play for this club in England, so I went to England and played for Warrington and Hull for a year and a bit,” Diamond said. “In hindsight, maybe I should’ve gone to Melbourne.
“That was the original Storm team when Glenn Lazarus came over, but coming through the
’90s, it was a really big thing for Australian or New Zealand blokes to get a crack overseas. But after playing here in Australia and going over to England, I must say the level of competition was a bit down on their side.”
The game of rugby league possibly saved Diamond from a life of the unknown. Back in his native New Zealand, he ran with the wrong crowd, and found himself in a similar situation when he arrived in Cronulla after his dad had accepted a job offer to move to Australia.
“I was hanging around with the wrong people and, at about 17 or 18, I was in a park when this old fella came up to me and said: ‘Look, I want you guys to come down and try out for the Cronulla under-19 SG Ball [representative rugby league] team.
“I played a trial game, and a week later this bloke rolls up to my old man and my caravan, walks in and said: ‘The boy can play, I want to put him into school’.
“Pretty much from that point in life, I cleaned myself up and ended up getting a scholarship in St Pat’s up in Mackay, and the rest is history.”
The Bears had four weeks training before Christmas and train Tuesday and Thursday nights at Haines Drive Reserve.
