Prior to arriving at GPS in 2004, BLK Queensland Premier Rugby Barbarians head coach, Nick Fogarty was in charge of the the Australian Catholic University Rugby League side.
He started with ACU in 1997 and was fortunate enough to tour with a Queensland Combined University side and coach the Australian Colts side in 2003.
In 2004, Nick made the move to Rugby and found home at Yoku Road.
He coached the Reserve Grade side at GPS for eight years and took the Gallopers to six grand finals.
He won three of them and jokes that he was robbed in the other three.
Fogarty took the head coaching role at Norths in 2015 and immediately began his quest to revive the Eagles.
The club hasn’t visited a grand final since 1981 when they lost to Brothers 36-13, so Fogarty has a massive mountain to climb.
However, in just two years there has been obvious improvements at Norths.
They jumped from cellar dwellers in 2015, winning just one game, to securing five victories in 2016 and were incredibly unlucky not to win more.
This weekend, at Ballymore, Nick Fogarty will be in charge of representing Premier Rugby, in an epic, one-off encounter against the All Americans.
Redsrugby.com.au caught up with Nick ahead of this weekend’s match.
Nick, as we approach this Saturday’s match against the All Americans, what are you most excited about?
I love coaching representative Rugby.
It’s great to work with different players from different clubs and the intensity of the training, it’s like it’s finals footy.
The players are motivated and keen to impress and the quality of the sessions are really high.
It’s also a great opportunity not only for the players to learn, but for me to learn as a coach.
You’ll get the opportunity to coach a few players you haven’t previously coached, are you looking forward to coaching some of Queensland’s best premier grade players?
I’m looking forward to coaching some players I haven’t worked with.
Matt Bennett won a premiership with Souths last year and obviously has a lot of experience and great leadership skills.
Stevie Hunt is a player I really enjoy watching, he’s very gifted with great feet.
Then there’s blokes I identified coaching against this year, blokes like Francois Postal who was really good for Brothers both times we played them.
On top of that you have your Billy Thompson and Pat Morrey type of players, who are tradesman like in the way they go about playing.
You need those guys to lay the foundation for the others to come out and do their thing.
Lastly, I’m excited to see Veresa Mataitini play, if there’s anyone who’s suited to Barbarians style Rugby it’s him”.
How will you approach putting together a side and a game plan with little time to prepare?
I’ll give the players the opportunity to determine some plays.
That way there’s more of a buy in from the playing group.
They’ve got to be comfortable so it’ll be easier to execute our plays.
We’ll play attacking Rugby in the traditions of Barbarians football.
Given it is a one off match, will your team be looking to play an exciting brand of Rugby?
We’ve got a couple of tap moves from the 80s that I wouldn’t mind bringing into the game.
Obviously we want to win but we’ll be attacking from all parts of the field.
We want to be entertaining because if people make the trip out to Ballymore we want them to be feeling good about the performance that the boys put on.
Playing against an American touring side is quite rare, do you think that it’s a sign that Rugby is expanding?
Definitely, it’s great for the players from America to get experience with the game out here in Australia and for our boys it’s an opportunity for them to get reward at the end of the season playing against a touring side from another country.
It’s similar to back in the 80s when Queensland sides would always be playing against touring sides from other countries.
Are you looking forward to coaching at Ballymore again?
I love coaching at Ballymore.
I’ve coached there close to 30 times over the last 13-14 years and from my experience, most of the times we’ve been successful.
The feel you get at Ballymore, It’s almost like playing at home.
How have you enjoyed working with Wests premier grade head coach, Pat Byron so far?
Pat is just as excited as I am to be a part of this team.
We both share the same views on how we want to play an attacking style of footy and Pat is also excited for the opportunity to work with players from other clubs.
It’s good we’re very much on the same page.
The Queensland Premier Rugby Barbarians match against the All American Collegiate side will take place this Saturday night at Ballymore, kick-off at 7:30pm, entry is free.
