My first visit to Australia in 1995 is still a vivid memory even though the 30+ year old photographs are quietly fading into a yellow haze.

Still a young uni student, I came to Australia knowing all about koalas, kangaroos and the red dirt of the outback but I knew nothing about rugby. It was sitting in a Queen Street Mall cinema in Brisbane where the beats of Tina Turner’s arousing song ‘The Best’ showcased these amazing rugby players training, tackling and running in their super short shorts.

Transforming Rugby Into The Game of Today

This famous ad with Tina Turner and the rugby players made a big impact on me as a tourist of Australia. But as a kid growing up in Australia, Stewart absolutely loved the ads. He wasn’t the only one. Turner’s campaigns were that successful, she was called in to promote the Rugby League finals from 1989 to 1995. Her impact was HUGE.

The game in the 1970’s and 80’s was semi-professional, under poor administration, considered too violent and held a bad reputation world wide. Turner’s image, songs and talent transformed the game and made it more appealing to women and families and the world.

Rugby Grand Final Hype

When talking to Stewart about this ad, he remembered really enjoying the hype and excitement these ads brought to the finals.

“I really enjoyed watching Peter Jackson from the North Sydney. Also, watching the creativity of the play makers and the speed of the wingers and the brut strength and determination of the forwards. It is the reason why I enjoy working with collision sports. I have sheer appreciation for the willingness of these athletes to put their bodies on the line to play a game that is centuries old.

I think Rugby is a sport that is enthralling to watch because of the instinctive, high levels of athleticism and instinctive skill and ability to change direction and tackle. It looks unstructured when you just start watching it but there is, obviously, a lot to it.”

To Be The Best – Horizontal Power is Key

At Acceleration, our philosophy when it comes to training rugby league, is based around getting our athletes more powerful. Specifically more powerful HORIZONTALLY.

The formula for this is: Power = Strength x Speed.

Essentially, Power (Watts) = Force (or body weight) x the Distance (in meters) divided by Time (seconds).

For Example:

If you have a 100kg athlete who can run 20 metres in 4 seconds, he or she will generate 500 watts of power.

100 kg x 20 m / 4 seconds = 500 Watts

Take the same athlete, improve their running form and improve their speed by 1 second and they are coming at you with 30% more power or 666 watts.

100 kg x 20m / 3 seconds = 666 watts.

So in a contact sport like rugby, you can see that being faster carries a big component to producing a lot of impact on the line.

Therefore, at Acceleration Australia, we always concentrate on slowly building the strength and weight of combative athletes because we don’t want to slow them down too much. Getting bigger and heavier can also change running form and is often the cause of injuries.

Sometimes people get too enamoured with building body mass and strength of their rugby athletes. This is usually a really bad idea.

The key to success in combative sports like rugby league is HORIZONTAL POWER.

Since 2000, Stewart and his team of performance specialist coaches have been writing rugby league and union training programs. This philosophy of horizonal power has been and continues to be a core principle in their prescripton.

written by, Vicki Briggs