EXCLUSIVE Interview with Brett Delaney (Tuesday 5th April 2022)

 Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today, we have a big one. We have an interview with ex-Leeds Rhinos player and current York City Knights assistant coach, Brett Delaney. This legend of the game started his career at the Parramatta Eels. He won silverware in his first season, as Parramatta were crowned winners of the Minor Premiership. He then had a 3 year spell at Gold Coast Titans, in which he played 63 games. In 2010, he made the move to England, signing for the Leeds Rhinos. He stayed at the West Yorkshire club for 9 years, tying down his a regular position throughout that time. He raked in the silverware, winning Super League 4 times, the Challenge Cup 2 times, the World Club Challenge and League Leaders Shield once and the Challenge Cup twice. After being part of the 2015 treble winning side, he gained legendary status among Leeds fans and the sport alike. However, now he has moved on from his Leeds days and is assistant coach of up and coming Championship side York City Knights. We sat down to have a much more conversational interview than my previous ones and discussed everything from signing for Leeds to how he doesn't want to be known as an ex-Leeds player.

On his Gold Coast Titans days, Delaney said that "the facilities they had then are nowhere near as good as they are now" because of them just getting back into the competition. He went on to say; "I was a 21 year old kid and so that didn't bother me."

I went on to ask him about the difference in difficulty playing between Super League to which he said "although people probably think different, it's probably a lot harder being a forward in Super League. I think there are a lot of talented outside backs over here." He also said "by the time he got to reserve grade, I was too skinny to play in the forwards which is why I moved to the centres and I really enjoyed it there to be honest." He also mentioned how NRL was "much more structured" and about "ball possession" and "set after set after set" whereas when he came to Leeds it was "much more free flowing, you could offload the ball and do what you wanted to do. The main difference is that its a lot quicker and I really enjoyed my first year at Leeds." 

He mentioned the area he grew up as part of the reason he got into rugby. "I'm from outer west which is basically rugby league heartland. There was also drug dealers near my house, so it was either kick a ball around all day and play footy or mess about. It wasn't easy growing up in Western Sydney but the weather was gorgeous."

We also discussed why he signed for Leeds. "Originally, I was going to sign a big money deal for Gold Coast. My mate came back because he had hurt his shoulder but he was at Wigan at the time, and he basically said that I'd love the lifestyle here, its really chilled and laid back. I didn't want to go back to Sydney so when Leeds came in, I went for it. I always remember Gary Hetherington ringing me at about 11.30pm and I wasn't expecting it. He told me about the club and things like that. Then, about a day later, Danny Buderus rang me to tell me about the boys and things like that and he's a legend, so I thought, I'm going to Leeds me. I didn't have the heart to tell my mum though because I knew she would be heartbroken. No disrespect either, but I didn't want to be one of those players who go to Super League at the end of their careers for an easy pay so I think going at 23-24 years old was a good idea."

That's not to say he didn't have some regrets, however. "I do wish I had played 100 games in the NRL, I played about 89 games. However, if I didn't sign for Leeds that decision would've been taken by someone else and I wouldn't be sat here doing this. Leeds also wasn't an opportunity I couldn't turn down. I looked at the team and you've got your Danny McGuire's and your Rob Burrow's and you know, these boys are legends."

Brett went on to discuss the culture in Leeds. "I don't know how to explain it, the culture's just different here. I slipped straight into it and the boys like Jamie Peacock welcomed me (not to say the others didn't either) and I just started chatting to them all. I'll never forget that moment. Even now we are all still a very close knit group, friends for life. We spent more time together than we did with our missus or wives, it was a very special bond." He mentioned ringing his dad the day after landing in the UK to tell him about the team and how he told his dad that he couldn't believe the way he was being embraced and that "it is just one massive family at Leeds." 

He mentioned how he couldn't believe the things Leeds helped him out with. "They sorted me out with things you don't even think about when you leave for a new country. It was things like a place to stay, a car, a bank account, you know all these things you don't even think about when you leave for a new country."

The weather was obviously a big shake up when moving to England. "When it snowed for the first time, I loved it. Then after about 20 minutes, I hated it. The first time I'd seen snow, I had just turned 24." Good to see that he feels the same as the rest of us do!

Brett heaped the praise on former coach, Brian McDermott. "He was another great coach. He was a brilliant leader. He was by far the best coach I've played under. He got the best out of me as a player and he knew how to do that, I can't speak highly enough of him. He gave me, my family and the boys so much support. It was great, unbelievable, and those memories will stick with me forever."

Now, Delaney has sought pastures news. He's gone from being a player for an ambitious club, Leeds, to being a coach at an ambitious club, York. He told me how "its a completely different ball game and their is a lot to learn, even though as a player you think you know everything and know how to coach. I worked from the reserve grade up. I started at Leeds Scholarship and I thought I knew a little bit about coaching, did I heck. I learnt the fundamentals down there, different ways of saying stuff and getting messages across right for example. I spent three years down there with the Scholarship, Academy and Reserves. I learnt a lot from Mark Buterrell and Woody at Scholarship and it was great to work with Chev Walker at Academy. Without it, I probably wouldn't be where I am today without them. They told me to go out and see what is out there and fortunately I've got the opportunity to work with the best young coach out there. I know he could go out and coach a Super League tomorrow, he's that good. I'm not just saying that because I'm at York, I'm genuine. I knew that before. I'm doing my apprenticeship as I would say, and I can't thank Fordy enough. There is a great bunch of blokes here who work hard, train hard and are committed. I'm loving my time here so far, it's been a great 6 months. To grow, you've got to move away. You've got to see things from another perspective, and that's what I've sort of done. I've moved away from York to gain experience elsewhere. My goal is to coach Super League and Leeds I'd like to coach one day, and I think I had to move away to get to the top."

When asked on York's promotion chances he said, "they are a committed bunch. We take it a game at a time but we train at a high intensity, Super League level. We have great facilities, great stadium and the best coach in the championship and a new passionate owner. Who knows what can happen, but I'm not going to put any pressure on. As a club, we are heading in the right direction of Super League whether that's this year, next year or the year after, but that's why I chose York over other teams. I believe York will be in Super League. I wouldn't have come to York if I didn't think they had ambition of Super League. We are an ambitious club and our aim is to get to Super League. We got a great win at Batley, proper old school stuff in the mud and it was great to watch. Everyone hear is great to work with in the office although it is a bit smaller than Leeds but you've got to understand York are a Championship club and Leeds are a big Super League club. York are the new team on the block and I'm excited to be a part of it. Where Fordy has got the club to is unbelievable considering a few years ago they were in the Championship. James Ford's name is up there, he can coach. He could walk into any Super League side I can tell you that right now. He's a great teacher and he gives you that time, which I'm really grateful for. He's a great bloke too which helps. I can't speak highly enough of all the players and the staff and the team, and hopefully we will be in Super League some day soon."

That wraps up the interview then. Thank you so much for reading and a big thank you to Brett for taking the time out to do the interview. I currently don't have any more interviews planned and I'm about to enter my exam period so this will be the last blog in April. Thank you again to Brett, I hoped you enjoyed reading and I'll see you back here for my next blog whenever that is. Bye!