Kimmorley rekindles coaching career with Wests Tigers

True Blue Brett Kimmorley has rekindled his coaching career by deciding to take on the Wests Tigers Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership team for the 2022 season.

Kimmorley, 45, who played 10 games for NSW, retired in 2010 after 307 NRL games as a player before becoming a specialist halves coach for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

He then joined the Canberra Raiders as NRL assistant coach, before coaching the Holden Cup (Under 20s) side at Wests Tigers. Kimmorley then took a break from football for a couple of years.

He returned as NSW Under 17s coach in 2020 and then City Under 18s in 2021.

“Those two were sort of the little adrenalin drug that has got me back into wanting to coach again,” Kimmorley told nswrl.com.au.

He applied for the Wests Tigers Harvey Norman NSW Women’s job two months ago, after former Helensburgh Tigers mentor Ryan Powell stepped down as head coach for personal reasons.

For all Kimmorley’s experience and acumen, this is his first opportunity coaching women’s Rugby League. Then again, he’s very much in touch with feminine side being the father of four daughters.

“There’s no real difference in coaching women,” Kimmorley said.

“The big thing for me is to earn their respect and trust in the style of footy I want to coach and get them to play.

“The one thing that’s really impressed me is they’ve been training since November and they’ve turned up every day to work hard.

“Their willingness to learn has been enormous and they get on very well together so it’s been an easy role for me to jump into.

“And like I’ve done with the male coaching roles I’ve had in the (NSW) pathways, I’m trying to make things as professional as I can, so their skills and fitness will allow them to play good football.”

Not long after Kimmorley began working with the Wests Tigers women, the wet weather hit Sydney.

“I’ve got to give a rap to the girls – not the NRLW players – but the ones who have been training right through that month of rain without competition matches,” he said.

“We had multiple field closures, so had to do indoor cardio, gym and tackling.

“Just to get training on a field again was unreal. It got very boring doing everything inside, but the girls have been great putting up with that and turning up with a great attitude – they are a terrific bunch.”

His Wests Tigers squad managed two trial games but there have been other disruptions leading up to their Round One game last Saturday at CommBank Stadium against South Sydney.

Wests Tigers were still alive in the Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup (Under 19s) so Kimmorley won’t get those half-a-dozen players for a couple of weeks. He has five from NRLW, although Jillaroos fullback Botille Vette-Welsh is an assistant at training since undergoing season-ending surgery.

“It’s a massive program for the elite players this year going from NRLW to Harvey Norman, to City-Country, Origin and then NRLW, so I’m conscious of the ‘maintenance’ of my players and resting them a bit when I can,” Kimmorley said.