Reflection: Learning from a master coach

Pressure without panic. That was the standout energy we brought home from the Brisbane youth rugby coaches forum, where we watched Mike Cron turn complex coaching into something calm, sharp, and deeply human. We open up our notes on how sky-high standards can thrive without fear, why fewer cues and more silence often produce better reps, and how the right tech can transform players into self-directed learners.

We talk through Cron’s approach to culture: make the standard crystal clear, keep the environment steady, and put responsibility on our delivery first. From there, the focus shifts to discovery learning. Instead of packing sessions with nonstop instruction, we explore how to set a clean target, let players feel the movement, and protect the space where reflection and peer discussion do the real work. You’ll hear how reading engagement beats watching the clock, and why a coach’s calm is the fastest way to earn attention.

We also dive into practical tools. A simple live-cast video setup turns feedback into a player-led loop: watch, discuss, adjust, repeat. With prompts like “What did you see?” and “Did your body feel powerful?” athletes connect sensation to outcome and start coaching each other. That peer coaching multiplies understanding, ownership, and accountability across the group—exactly what you need when pressure rises on game day.

If you want a team that thinks faster, learns deeper, and holds the standard together, this conversation lays out the shifts to make: set standards without fear, trim your talking, and use tech to unlock autonomy. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a coaching friend, and leave a quick review to help more coaches find it. What’s the first change you’ll try this week?

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If you want to chat directly or explore options for your school or club, flick an email to ben@coachingculture.com.au
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Chapters

• 1:53 Brisbane Coaches Forum Highlights
• 3:32 Lessons From Mike Cron’s Philosophy
• 5:00 Standards Without Fear
• 6:20 Less Coaching, More Learning
• 8:24 Using Tech To Grow Thinking Players
• 10:28 Peer Coaching And Takeaways

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

Welcome to the Reflections midweek session and what a week it's been. We've uh been away at a youth rugby coaches forum in Brisbane with about 350 coaches, which was just sensational. Run at Nudgy College and had some awesome people there, the likes of Mike Cron, um Ian Foster, Madge McGuire and the like, Zane Hilton from the Reds. It was just an outstanding get-together of really awesome people and really great um coaches that were there watching and participating, seeing the world's best. I was lucky enough to be able to uh host that session, to be the MC, and loved it and got to have a bit of access to the to the behind the scenes and how it all rolled. And it was it was really awesome. And I just thought, because it's top of mind, top of head, I look I got a lot of little notes that I took out, and I thought I'd just share them with you today because the more we share, the more we get better and grow this rugby element. And I loved this session because I got to catch up with Mike Cron, amongst others, but he has to be one of the best, the very best coaching deliverers in the world. He he's known for his scrummaging and forward playing. He's currently the Wallaby's uh forwards coach. He's been with the All Blacks 217 games for the All Blacks over a huge lifespan. He he's won three World Cups, both with men's and women's teams. He's the master, the grandmaster of coaching. And it's not just, you know, the way he does it, it's his philosophies behind it as well. And every time you listen to him speak, he just came out invigorated and ready to coach yourself. And I just wanted to share my little observations of Mike and his sessions. He did he did things on stage, which were absolutely brilliant and gold. And if you get the opportunity to go to the youth rugby coaches former in Brisbane, it's on every year in January. Absolute must for you and your coaching crew. But what I love was when I when you get to watch a great coach get out in the field, and I just thought I'd reflect on some of the cool things that he does as a person and as a deliverer and as a coach. And the first one is that he hates mediocrity. And he he does this thing where he has such high standards, but he has those high standards without fear. He he talks about he doesn't want to coach with mediocrity, but he never uses fear to drive standards. And I love that. He actually flips the responsibility back on your coaching. And I and I kind of love that. It's not the player's effort that's lacking, it's it's you, the coaching. So the standard is clear, the environment is calm, there's no panic, there's no barking, there's no intimidation, just clarity and expectation. And I love that. Um it's just a joy to watch. You know, standards don't need, you know, heavy volume or fear, they just need consistent approach. And he's so awesome like that. Um when you watch him, you just feel calm and just watch the players come round and the ears in, they're listening because they want to, because they're engaged. So I think that's a really cool standard for our cultural pieces. You don't need fear. And if you're not getting what you want, it's not to flip it back on the players are at fault. It's always back on you. What do I need to change? What do I need to tweak? Where does my delivery method have to go? And and that's what he was big on talking about. That the way you are is the way the group will be. And Crono is a lifelong learner. So he puts himself in that position of the learner and creates that environment which it's a pleasure watching. I think all 350 coaches watching would just just love watching him because he's it's a joy to watch as much as it is a joy to participate. The second thing which I thought was a really amazing thing that he did was just this concept of less coaching and and more learning. And another presenter at the at the forum talked about coaching too much takes away the reps your players get. Coaching too much takes away the reps your players get. Now, Crono is a big believer that players can just figure things out for themselves if we let them. So instead of just overloading them with cues, he lets them feel the movement. Just go for it. He used to say this to the players in these sessions, just have a play around, see how it feels, and then we'll have a chat afterwards. And then he uses silence brilliantly, just lets him go. He's happy to let players play, talk and reflect. And there was this moment in the in one of his sessions where he called them in and a group of players were were still continuing talking about what they'd just done, like discussing something. And he actually said, Oh, look at this, coaches, look how good this is. They're learning, they're discussing amongst themselves. And the reflection being that often we go, Oi, stop that talk, let's get in here. But the talk, the discussion, the reflection from the play you just did is actually the real learning. And to let that roll roll, to encourage that, that's really good coaching. It talks about this discovery beats instruction. And as coaches, we kind of feel like we're operating on a clock. You know, we've got to get moved to the next drill, we've got to do the next thing, we've got a schedule. Rano actually talks about he doesn't actually like coaching with a watch. He needs to feel it, gut feel how are they going? Are they engaged? Do we keep rolling? Have they got it? What a cool concept. Just flips on the head. And it's quite tough too to just sit back and let that. Which takes us to number three. The third point, which I loved, was just his use of technology that creates thinking players, not dependent ones. Now, Crono is an absolute master of using tech the right way. And he had this great thing uh that helped him on this session, which it is worth mentioning. It was the live cast from Silverfern, which was a portable remote uh video screen, which you just plug your phone into and it's battery powered, which is rechargeable. Just wheel the big screen out, it's all set up beautifully on wheels and everything you need. Just roll it out, it's got no chords, you attach your phone and you can set delays and things like that on it, and then you get started in your session, and you've got this live, you know, recording. You can do one man band can do it. It's even got a poll if you wanted to do higher shots of things from above, like team plays and things. But Crono used it like this, where he set it up and had the camera pointed to where he was, and when the players were doing it, he would say, Right, that's enough, guys. Go have a look at yourselves and have a discussion around that. And I loved it because this technology, using this awesome device that this live cast that um Sylfern had done, critically, the first feedback didn't come from him. The players went and checked it out for themselves. They went and looked at themselves and they took that stance that they were the coach. So before anything had gone into them, they were able to actually see from a different standpoint, from the coach's standpoint, what they looked like. And then they got to go, oh, okay, all right. And then all Croner did beautifully was just ask super great questions. What did you see? How powerful did your body feel? Did your legs go where they thought, where you thought they should have? He just asked a beautiful range of questions based on what the video was showing, and they were able to answer it. And I love the video because it works, it works because players see themselves the way a coach sees them. Their learning accelerates and the peer coaching explodes. And the peer coaching is something that Crono put a massive value on because when peers are coaching each other, that's the strongest form of coaching it is, multiplies understanding and ownership across the group. So the more you can get your team coaching each other and pointing out things to each other, it's creating that sort of accountability within your group. And it motivates, there's that social sort of pressure to do it for your mates and that kind of thing. And that's really important. So I just wanted to credit uh the maker of that machine, Silverfern. This screen setup made it just feel professional, accessible, and usable. And good on you, men, creating this awesome coaching tool uh that you can use anywhere. Great example of how the right tool can really lift up environments and not compli not complicate them. It was a wonderful all-round um session watching. I hope those points landed with you, because they certainly landed with me. One, high standards without fear. Two, less coaching, more learning. Three, technology creates thinking players, not dependent ones, dependent ones. So you so reach out and use technology. You know, wherever, whatever state you're at, get get creative. Use it as a coaching tool, and you'll see your players' um improvement explode through the roof. Love your thoughts. Anyone that was there at the Youth Coaches Rugby Forum in Brisbane on the weekend, drop us any notes. Love to know what your takeaways were from such a great session for coaches to come to and learn from each other. We'll see you next week.