Lions and Springbok stalwart Warren Whiteley has accepted he may never play rugby again. He doesn’t like the thought, but if that’s what is meant to be he’ll be happy to continue helping other players become the best players they can be.
Whiteley was this week confirmed as the Lions’ specialist line-out coach ahead of the 2020 Super Rugby competition, a job he is relishing to get stuck into. But being a part of the coaching ranks, rather than the players' corps, is nothing new to the former Lions captain; he spent most of last year learning about the ins and outs of coaching. Just that now it’s a little more serious and a lot more is expected of him.
At 32 and with 94 Super Rugby games and 23 Test matches behind him, Whiteley’s troublesome knee looks as if it’s finally got the better of him.
“I’ll do another MRI scan in a few months’ time and take things from there. There’s bruising on the knee and there’s still pain, which means I can’t even jog right now, but by not playing this year and focusing on the coaching I’m going to give the injury time to heal,” he said this week.
“Because it’s bruising no amount of rehab work or strength training will help it get better; it really is a thing that only time will heal. How long it’s going to take, no one knows. Of course, it’s frustrating, but if it doesn’t heal then I can confidently say I did everything. And at the same time I would have developed as a coach, and given myself a running start into the next chapter of my life.”
Whiteley has suffered with numerous injuries over the years but this latest setback has hit him the hardest. He missed most of last year and also lost out on a chance of possibly being a part of the Springbok set-up that won the World Cup in Japan last
November.
While he may have been hurting, he didn’t sit back and complain, but rather picked up a notebook and whistle and got stuck in during the Lions’ Currie Cup campaign - as an “apprentice coach”.
“I decided to be proactive, to use the time to grow and develop as a coach, something I would anyway have gone into after my playing days were over,” said Whiteley.
Besides the expected appointment of Whiteley to the Super Rugby team’s coaching ranks, there were no new faces when the 2020 management team was announced this week.
However, a new role - that of collisions and rucking coach - has been created in the Lions franchise and will be filled by Philip Lemmer, who took charge of the forwards as a whole last year. Lemmer is a former wrestler and well suited for the position.
The Lions wrap up their pre-season programme with a fixture against the Bulls in what is termed Superhero Sunday at the FNB Stadium tomorrow. The match kicks off at 3pm.
In the early match, at 1pm, the Sharks and Stormers will do battle.
@jacq_west
Independent on Saturday
Like us on Facebook
Follow
us on Twitter