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Key to beating Kiwis, Thorn back to his best and mowing lawns: Reds skipper sees light in 'frustrating' period

22nd December, 2022
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22nd December, 2022
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Liam Wright says the additions of Phil Blake and Mick Heenan to the Queensland Reds coaching structure have allowed Brad Thorn to get back to doing what he does best. Coach.

The Reds captain, who signed a two-year extension deal with Queensland in the winter, which comes with a five-month option to play overseas should he miss Wallabies selection, also addressed the franchise’s struggles against their trans-Tasman rivals.

Wright, 25, also opened up on his personal struggle, which has seen him miss huge chunks of the past two years because of injuries and slowed his Test aspirations after a surprise call-up for the 2017 Spring Tour as a development player.

What he found was that he really loves the game.

“These past two years have really made me realise how much I enjoy playing footy,” Wright told The Roar.

“Even the training and things, there were not that many weeks this year that I was able to freely train with the team.

“I feel like I’ve taken some positives out of it like resilience, which will serve me well.

“I just want to be on the field to be able to show up for the fellas next to me in the Queensland jersey.”

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Michael Hooper and Liam Wright

Liam Wright has not played for the Wallabies since 2020 but says he is hopeful of mounting a late run by delivering in next year’s Super Rugby competition. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Well-spoken and measured, Wright is by no means your typical rugby player.

After finishing his undergraduate degree in 2018, Wright put his head down during the 2019 season in an effort to make the World Cup squad but ultimately felt his year was “unbalanced” and returned to studying a year later.

He is currently completing a Master of Business degree and hopes the management and leadership sections of the course will complement and improve his “captaincy and career goals” after rugby.

And when he’s not studying or putting his head in rucks, Wright enjoys being on the mower and in the garden.

“In our little break before the pre-season, I was just hopping on the mower and helping be one of the volunteers looking after the Easts fields,” he said.

“It’s just volunteers who did it at Easts and I live only about a kilometre away from the club. I was doing some running down there and saw the guys who did it and said, ‘I’m literally doing nothing for the next two weeks if you need a hand’ and they ended up yelling out.

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“It gave the guy who usually does it two weeks off and they appreciated it. But, like I said, I love mowing a lawn. Just put the headphones on and look after the grounds there.”

Just like the Reds, Wright has a lot of unfinished business to attend to in 2023, which extends beyond the state of the local grounds.

The Reds might have had the measure of their Australian rivals over the past two years, but in the matches that count, particularly from a national perspective, they haven’t cut the mustard.

Liam Wright of the Reds

Liam Wright has missed huge chunks of the past two Super Rugby seasons. Photo: Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

While injuries have stung, they have claimed just one victory against New Zealand opposition over the past two years. If there is a reason why a number of the Reds’ players have been looked past for the Wallabies in recent years, that is one.

Wright, who has missed crucial game time, particularly in the build-up to the trans-Tasman crossover, doesn’t dance around that factor.

“I think probably where we fell short was just getting bored of doing the stuff that wins games of footy,” the experienced leader, who has captained the Reds 27 times from his 58 matches, said.

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“You saw against the Hurricanes, we were up 17-0 after 30 minutes and then I think we started getting loose with our play a bit.

“That probably comes down to more composure and smarts in the key points, and not getting bored of doing the things that win you games like holding the 50/50 ball and going into the next phase.”

He also believes the fully-fledged competition will ensure they don’t become one-dimensional in how they approach games of footy.

“I also think we’re looking forward to the structure of the competition this year,” he said.

“It is a different style playing the New Zealand teams to the Aussies. We moulded our play in the first eight weeks of that comp to what wins the game against the Aussie guys, which is about discipline and taking the three and is more set-piece based, which was working for us.

“Then we had to quite drastically change our game plan to the counter-attacking style and less errors, which is probably more known to the Kiwi teams and we just took way too long to do that.”

Reds coach Brad Thorn during the round four Super Rugby Pacific match between the Queensland Reds and the Fijian Drua at Suncorp Stadium on March 12, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Liam Wright believes Reds coach Brad Thorn will excel with more experience around him. Photo: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

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The inability to adjust their game-plan is a fascinating revelation, which reflects the shortcomings of the Reds in recent years.

But Wright believes the additions of Blake, the former rugby league star turned Wallabies assistant, as well as local talent Heenan, to the Reds’ coaching structure is already paying dividends.

“I think having more voices around him, and fresh voices, takes a bit of the strain off him (Thorn),” Wright said.

“He does a lot of leading from the front and taking on a big load, especially when we haven’t been performing as well as we’d like. Brad’s great at taking the heat off us and throwing himself in the firing line.

“I think having the fresh voices around him, allowing them to speak up more, and I think there’s been good challenging as well in the coaching so far in that they’re pushing each other to be better all the time. As players, it’s great to see that happening.

“And he can probably go back a bit more, with more experience around him, to what his best coaching style is.”

It begs the question, what is Thorn’s best coaching style? After all, Thorn’s man-management and his technical nous has come under huge scrutiny in recent years.

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“I think Brad’s very good at the mental side of it,” Wright said.

“He’s been in these positions himself. I thought he, I don’t want to say singlehandedly because it’s a big team effort, but the way he rallied us for the quarter-final (against the Crusaders) and even that last match in Christchurch was very much around mind-set.

“It wasn’t too different in terms of how we’re going to play the game, but rather how you look at it, how you prepare, all that little stuff that he did as a player; I think that’s when he’s at his best and I think he knows that too.

“Almost being able to pull back from a few different things and hand over to Heeno, to Blakey, to Jimmy (McKay) allows him to focus more on that and more on that connection stuff with the players, who respect him a great deal for the amount of care he shows for Queensland.”

It won’t be easy for the Reds.

Taniela Tupou’s Achilles injury suffered against Ireland in November is a massive blow for the franchise. The departure of Feao Fotuaika overseas represents a double blow.

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But if the Reds can challenge the top six, it can only spell good news for those on the fringes like Wright, Harry Wilson and Seru Uru.

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