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Johns adds to coaching resume at Harlequins
Alex Brown in London | August 28, 2007
RUGBY league legend Andrew Johns added another page to his rugby coaching resume last week, overseeing a Harlequins training session in London.
Johns, who was received warmly by the Wallabies when called into camp ahead of the World Cup, was approached by Tony Rea and trainer Billy Peden to pass on his kicking and tactical knowledge to the Harlequins rugby side.
"They were really impressed," said Rea, a former North Sydney Bear who now coaches the Harlequins rugby league team. "We knew he was coming to town, and Billy Peden, his old teammate, gave him a call to see if he would be interested in a consultancy coaching appearance.
"He would make a very good coach, but my read on it is that he enjoys the consultancy stuff, and I think there is plenty of work around for him. While he's got a lot of instinct, he made the top of the pile as a player by thinking a lot about the game. That generally makes for a pretty smart coach."
Johns has been holidaying in Europe and the UK, and was at Saturday's Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium, along with injured Australian captain Darren Lockyer. Aside from his guest coaching stint with Harlequins, Johns has also called in on his former Super League club, Warrington, for whom he has been acting as a recruiting agent in Australia.
Johns was involved in the Wolves' pursuits of Matt King and Michael Monaghan, and has expressed his willingness to continue assisting club majority shareholder Simon Moran in poaching other Australian players.
"I'd love to help the club in any way," Johns told reporters last week. "If Simon rings me up and asks me to ring a bloke, I've no problem doing it. I've done it for a few of them, I've done it for 'Kingy' and Monaghan. I think [Monaghan] is a fine player. He's been playing out of position at hooker but the way he plays there for Manly, he's always outstanding."
Lockyer, meanwhile, said he would be open to a move to the Super League at the conclusion of his contract with Brisbane. The Australian Test skipper, in London to promote next year's World Cup, said the experience of standing among the 85,000 people at Wembley last Saturday had "whet the appetite" for a stint in the UK.
"It was a pretty incredible scene," Lockyer said. "I spoke to a few of the guys before the game, and was really impressed with what I saw. It certainly has appeal, but I've got another couple of seasons with the Broncos to go, so we'll see what happens after that.
"The standard of play was quite high, and a lot of the credit for that has to go to the coaches. Obviously [St Helens coach] Daniel Anderson and [Catalans coach] Mick Potter have done themselves a few favours with their records over here, particularly Daniel. For Daniel there are maybe no more challenges, so he might want to go to a new challenge back home."
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