Will Genia Leaves Japan Set on a Coaching Journey

Wallaby centurion and considered one of the best to play in his position, Will Genia is leaving Japan after this season to further pursue his coaching career, but he reflects fondly on his time in Japan with the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners in the Japan Rugby League One. 

We discuss his rugby journey and transition to coaching, why he thinks Japanese rugby is in a healthy place, and what is next for Will Genia?

Childhood Heroes and Reflecting on a Remarkable Playing Career – Will Genia

Genia talked recently on a podcast about how your parents are his heroes – we asked him to explain why it’s been important for him in terms of his career longevity, but also touch on any similarities that he has seen in Japan, as the impression is that Japan has a similar hard-working ethic.

“My parents are my heroes, because they grew up from very humble beginnings. They didn’t grow up with a lot. They grew up in proper villages (in PNG) where they would have to walk 20 kilometres to go to school, didn’t have shoes, and they’ve gone on to be very successful people,” explained Genia.

“And so growing up as a kid, seeing that, it very much gets ingrained in you that you get out of life what you put in. My mother’s the governor of the National Bank in Papua New Guinea at the moment. Over the course of her career, she studied, did a whole bunch of courses, got a master’s degree in accounting, and now to be at the very top of what her profession is, you can’t help being a kid, and seeing that and having that mould you around what hard work means. 

For me, in terms of my career, I was never touted to be a schoolboy superstar or anything of that nature. I was talented, and I was given opportunities. But you know what I always said to myself, I would make the most of whatever opportunity that I was given.

When I was eventually given an opportunity at the Reds, I made that choice from day one – I’m lucky to be here. I’m blessed to be in this position. I’m gonna do everything I possibly can to work as hard as I possibly can, to make the most of it. 

And if it meant I had a two-year career, or a one-year career or a five-year career. I committed myself completely to it. 

When I look back on my career, the thing I’m most proud of from a rugby perspective is the fact that I played 100 tests. But it goes a bit deeper than that. I think the thing I’m most proud of is that I was able to live up to the expectations that I set for myself. 

Playing 100 tests was a result of that, because it means I was able to make the sacrifices, I was able to do the extras, stay committed to that over a long period of time, and then to achieve the things that I did.”

Compared to the attitude in Japan, he added, “It’s been interesting here in Japan. Hard work is very much a part of their culture. I’ve loved my time here because a lot of the guys that play are company players, so they work during the day for half the day, then they come here to train. But they’re so committed.

They’ll stay out in the field for hours, and do extra training, try to learn as much as they can, and get in as good a condition as they can. And it’s just such a good culture around what hard work represents. For me, I certainly related to that quite quickly when I moved over.”

Looking back at his playing career, which only ended recently, would he have thought 20 years later he would have played 100+ caps for Australia, played at World Cups, in France, and in Japan? Has he appreciated the work he put in to get those opportunities?

“Honestly, I think it’s only recently, like very recently, that I’ve started to sit back and reflect. I played professionally for 20 years. I played at three Rugby World Cups. I lived and played in Paris, and lived in Melbourne for a couple of years. I’ve lived in Japan for seven years, won games, won trophies, won individual awards.

I have been considered one of the best players in my position. It’s pretty crazy to think about, because I didn’t ever think that any of that was a possibility.

Even until last year, when I finished playing, I was just so focused on putting in the work. For me, when people ask me what one of the most important things is, I say to kids, just be focused on the work, and the results take care of themselves. To answer your question, I’d never thought it was possible to sit here and say that I was fortunate to achieve all those things.”

Coaching Influences

Will Genia has mentioned in a recent interview that a coach was dropping him off after training while at school in Brisbane, and said that he could really make something of playing rugby. We have heard similar stories around the world before.

It often takes a coach or a teammate to instil that belief in someone when they’re young, to really chase those dreams. Does he look back at that conversation, and has he had similar conversations in Japan, because coaching young, aspirational players as well?

“That’s a great question. It is so true, like it just takes someone to believe in you, to instil that belief within yourself. And I was fortunate. I had that conversation with a coach of mine, and I never thought that I could be anything, but he said, “You can actually go make something of this.” He said, “Look, just give me next year”, because I was still in school, “Give me next year. Let’s, let’s do some work together, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.” 

I went on to do things that I was fortunate enough to do, but it is a really powerful thing to first and foremost invest in people, to learn about people, to care about people, to see them for who they are, and want them to do well. 

He had plenty of other players that he saw, that he cared for and that he believed in, but there was something, I guess, special that he saw in me, that he invested more time in me, and you can only get to that place with individuals if you spend time with them.

For me, one of the biggest learnings towards the back end of my career as a senior player, and now in the coaching space, is you’ve got to invest time into people. You’ve got to get to know them. Show some care. Understand what motivates them, understand what it is that you know makes them tick and encourage them, empower them, show them that you believe in them.

Because it might just be one little conversation that puts them on the track to completely believing in themselves to take their game to the next level.”

We really like that message, especially in Asia, where rugby is very much still a developing sport in a lot of countries and that extra care and push can literally change someone’s life.

Why Did He Move to Play in Japan and Join Hanazono Kintetsu Liners?

Will Genia moved to Japan after playing at the 2019 World Cup, after which he hung up his Wallabies boots. What conversations took place back then about moving to Japan, and what did he know about Japanese rugby at the time?

“I initially had the idea to move to Japan after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. I’d flirted with conversations because my very first professional rugby game was for the Queensland Reds at the end of 2006, which was against the Japanese national team. Eddie Jones was our coach, so he took us over there for a preseason game. And I just remember falling in love with the country, the people, the place, the culture, the food. 

I came back again in 2009 with the Wallabies. We played the All Blacks over here. And so I’d had brief experiences with the country, and immediately fell in love with it. I was off contract in 2011. I flirted with the idea, but it obviously didn’t eventuate. 

When I decided that I wanted to retire from test rugby at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, I had options to stay in Australia, but I explored other opportunities in Europe. I was presented with an opportunity to come to Japan, and it for me, was a no brainer. I had great experiences over here prior to that, but I’d also been keeping an eye on rugby and how the game was developing over here.

My club, in particular, Kintetsu, we were sitting in Division Two, and I was still relatively young. I’d retired from Test Rugby at 31, so I still felt like I was in peak condition and able to perform. So I wanted to come over and make a difference and see if we could get promoted to division one and try to make an impact on the game here. 

That was very much my motivation. And mate, when I did come, I absolutely loved the rugby, because rugby nowadays, and that’s Super Rugby level and Top 14 level, and Premiership level, and obviously Test level – It’s very much about the collisions and the pragmatism of the game, the territory and things of that nature.”

He explained, “But I found when I came over here, the game wasn’t as physical, you learn how to be able to create space and create time and create opportunities and using more speed and tempo and skill. Obviously, the type of athlete here isn’t the same as what it is back home. So they have to find ways to play a game that suits the athletes that they do have. 

And so it was a different way of seeing the game and playing the game, and it taught me a lot. I really enjoyed the experience of what it taught me about the game, but also playing and being a part of it.”

We think rugby in Japan gets a bad rap from people who probably don’t watch enough Japanese rugby and the JRLO. We asked Genia about transitioning to coaching at the club and his key takeaways from seeing the game grow in Japan over the past 7 years.

“I really enjoyed the style of rugby. I can’t understand why people give it a bad rap. Because it’s about high skill, it’s about tempo, it’s about ball movement. It’s just a different brand of football, like I said, where you create space, time and opportunities and speed and pace of the game.

Whereas back home, it was more about winning collisions and creating one-on-ones through dominating collisions, playing on top of teams, and a bit more pragmatic in that sense. 

I really enjoyed the people. I really enjoyed my time here, and the different perspective on rugby, the different culture, and a different understanding of high performance. It’s very different in that regard as well. When I look back, I just really enjoyed the change. I enjoyed that it was a different challenge, and it stimulated me differently. 

The Professionalism of the Japan Rugby League One

We asked about the unique corporate hybrid model that exists in Japan. How difficult or easy was that to adjust to, and how easy was it to gel on and off the field for him? 

“When I first came over, we were predominantly company players. There was a small contingent of professionals who were foreign players, but now, for the majority of teams, the majority of the sport is professional. There’s only a small contingent of company players. 

To your question, yeah, it was quite difficult to gel, because you’ve got a group of players who are professionals, who I guess, live and breathe it, and have had the time to be professional players. You invest more of that time into reviews, previews, and the growth of your game, whereas a lot of the guys at the early stages of my career were company players; they don’t have that same time to be able to invest in those parts of the game, invest in recovery and invest in watching footage and game understanding and growing their IQ. 

So that was challenging at first, but what they did have, which was incredible, was just the desire to work, and work hard. They would stay out on the field for longer than the professionals, because they want to be out there to try and learn as much as they can before they had to go home and go to work the next day

The growth in the competition now means that I think most teams in Division One during the season, all their players are considered professionals. And then it’s only when it’s off-season that the company players go back and work for the company. In our squad, we’ve got a squad of 60, I think we would have about half, or more than half of professionals, and that includes Japanese players.”

His club signed some really high-profile players, and of course, he and Quade Cooper have been there since 2019. With the direction the game is going, does he think the JRLO is in a healthy state at the moment?

Will Genia is confident.

“It is in a healthy state, because you’ve only got to look at the players that the competition is attracting. Obviously, money is a big thing because the Japanese companies offer quite lucrative contracts. You’ve got guys committing long term, like we’ve got Manie Libbok, who signed for three years, Jesse Kriel has been in Japan for a long period of time after, and Faf De Klerk was here for several years before he leaves this season, and Cheslin Kolbe has chosen to stay over here, and Ardie Savea has had a couple of stints here. 

There’s obviously something more than just the money that attracts the players. I’d like to think, from my experience here, it is the brand of rugby, the way the game is played. It is the lifestyle that’s on offer. And I think it’s also the growth of the direction of where most clubs are going. 

High performance, when I first came, probably wasn’t at the standard that it is now. I think that’s a big thing that’s improved, and I think that’s also a big thing that probably players were wary of coming over here. But I think now, the high performance is improving, the medical staff, S&C staff, coaches, it is all improving, and it makes it a lot more attractive to players to come here. The way the game is played over here is really attractive and an entertaining brand of rugby to watch.”

Will Genia – The Coach

Will Genia has just completed his first season as the skills coach at the Hanazo side in JRLO D2, and we asked him how he has enjoyed the transition from playing to coaching, and working with the quality of players he has in the team – what are his key learnings from this season?

“I’ve really enjoyed it. Coaching is about people, and as I said, it’s about investing time in people and learning about them, but you also learn about yourself. We’ve got such high-calibre quality players here, and I’ve just tried as much as possible to ask questions of them, try and share and impart some of my knowledge.

We have conversations about what they’re seeing, how they see the game. How can we do things better? How do you see yourself improving? How can I help you? 

Having all those sorts of conversations has certainly helped my transition into the coaching space, and made it a lot smoother because I’ve had good guys here. 

Will Genia and Peter Umanga-Jensen

Obviously, Manie Libbok. But Peter Umanga-Jensen, who’s been amazing for us here and really good for me in terms of my growth, Akira Loane, Burger Odendaal – so we’ve got guys who have rugby IQ, have had a lot of experience, and that has certainly helped me grow my confidence in this space. It has helped me grow and affirm a lot of what I’m seeing, which has been really positive.”

He has earmarked process and preparation as the key cornerstones to his playing success. As a coach, how does his week look like between matchdays? (We were speaking leading up to the final game of the season, which was a must-win to confirm their place in the promotion games to D1, but they narrowly lost to miss out on the playoff opportunity.)

“Mentally, the week is different. Anyone would be lying if they said it was just the same. It’s a big game for us. We need to win this game in order to be able to qualify for promotion and relegation. But I think the most important thing is focusing just on the process of the week. What do we need to get out of today? What do we need to get out of tomorrow? What’s the plan for the week? Are you guys clear? Making things as clear as possible? 

I was having a conversation today with one of the coaches, and I was saying, under pressure, you want guys to make good decisions. How do you allow them to make good decisions? You allow them to be clear. You give them clarity. And how you do that is you make it really clear how we want to play the game. You make it really clear to them that in training, the picture that we’re after as far as how we want the game to look, so they can adapt and find solutions in training, so that they can do that in the game. 

I think that’s the biggest thing, is you just focus on the process of what week we are. What the week, what the day looks like, as far as what we want the game to ultimately look like on Saturday.”

Does he feel the pressure or stress of coaching?

“I don’t stress during these times. To tell you the truth, it’s very different. As a coach, I really enjoy trying to find a way to build a game for the weekend. Every team will have a style of play in terms of what their framework is and structure, and all that type of stuff. But I like the idea of, okay, how we’re going to beat the team on the weekend, within how we play, what does the game look like, as far as how we’re going to play, within our shape. I like that. So I get it. 

I enjoy the conversations I have with the other coaches about that. I enjoy putting together a plan with how we can do that, how we see that happening, and allowing the guys to then go out and practice that and train that. I don’t feel the stress of it because I don’t have to play. Maybe it’s my infancy in this coaching space, but I just enjoy that part of my role.”

What is Next For Will Genia & Views On the Modern Game

He confirmed that he will be leaving his Japanese club and home of 7 years in Osaka after this season.

“I’m gonna go back home. I need to spend some time with my daughter as she’s going to boarding school next year, so I’m gonna go back home after this season.

I’d love to stay in the coaching space because I do really enjoy it, and I’ve learned a lot this year. I’ve had some really good experiences and learnings from the guys here in this coaching space. I would love to stay involved in continuing because I think there’s not only a lot of growth for me to add, but I feel like there’s value that I can add in terms of my experience and things that I can bring to a group.

I think I will just keep the options open. I really enjoy the attack side of the game, and I enjoy working with the backs, but I do also just like the idea of skill development. I think that’s quite a lost art in today’s game. I think when I look at the game, I think it’s very shape-focused and structure-focused, so I think it’s a lost art of guys having the skill and the ability to play the game when the game then becomes unstructured.

We rely so much on shape and structure now that guys are losing the ability to be able to see space and play space, but then also being able to have the skills to be able to play, see space and play space. So for me, whether that’s working with guys in schools or universities, or wherever it is, I like the idea of being able to teach that part of the game.”

And who does Will Genia think are the best examples of the players in the game who possess those skills that he admires?

“The best example is obviously Antoine Dupont. He’s as instinctive as they come. The thing about shape is when you play in a shape, and you play in structure, the idea of shape and structure is to be able to create unstructured football, because you want to be able to create one-on-ones and get mismatches and get over the game line. From there, you want to be able to have the ability to play to where the obvious space isn’t and have the skills to be able to do that. 

So I think when you watch France play, and you watch him play, they obviously have a certain structure to how they play the game. But then once the game becomes unstructured because they get in behind, or there’s a turnover ball, his ability to be able to look for this place and trust his skills and create opportunities through his instinct, I think, is second to none.”

And in that same vein, how much does he think his playing role as a scrumhalf has changed over the years, and what skillsets do great number nines now need?

“You have to be a genuine run, pass, kick threat. You cannot just be a kicking half-back or a passing half-back. Defences are so structured now that you need your nine being able to be a threat, because it breaks up the defence, so you must be able to play the short side, or be able to run and create space for yourself and space for others, but also control and dictate the tempo of the game through your kicking game.”

Are there any Japanese players that stand out for him?

“There are some players here that are genuinely class operators, and like you, look at the Saitama Wild Knights – I like the way they play, and they have a guy that plays 10 and 15, Takuya Yamasawa, he is athletically built. He’s fast, he’s got a good rugby IQ and his core skills are excellent. I love watching guys like that 

I’ll be honest, when I came over, I didn’t think those players were here with that level of talent, but there are. It ties into the fact that the competition is in a healthy place. Those guys are being exposed to high-quality rugby because of the world-class talent that comes over internationally, and they get to stack up and measure themselves against those types of players, which grows their game in terms of half price. 

I’ve been really impressed with the Japanese half-backs. I think a lot of the way that they play is also dictated by the style of play at the top level. 

When I look at the Japanese team, because of the way they want to play the game and from a physical standpoint, they want to play at a fast speed, have tempo, and high skills. The Japanese art backs, their level of conditioning must be incredible, because they’re just constantly on the move. They are at the breakdown, and quickly move the ball, and move the ball, and move the ball. They create tempo, create speed in the game. It’s just a different way of playing the game, which is the beautiful part of the game. There are just different ways that you can approach it.

For them, speed and shape and structure create space, and then from there, they just want to stay on top of you and stay on top of you. So it’s just a game based around speed.”

What Are Will Genia’s Parting Words To His Club And Fans In Japan?

“I’m just grateful. I’m unbelievably grateful for the opportunity to have been here for seven years, to play the game here for six and to have had the opportunity to coach for a year. I’ve just really enjoyed my time. I couldn’t say anything more than that. 

I think I learned this from Matt Gittau – he told me this before I went to France, and I asked him what it was like before I went and played. 

He said, “When you go somewhere different, you can’t go there and expect it to be the same as what you’ve experienced. You’ve got to go there with an open mind and understand that they’re going to not just speak differently and walk and talk differently. They’re going to think differently, and you’ve got to be able to embrace that”

That was great advice for going over to France, but also coming to Japan. Just be open to a different way of thinking about not only life, but specifically to this conversation about rugby, about the game. Ask, “Why do you see that? Why do you like to do it that way? Or maybe I’ll try that, or maybe you can try the way I do it, or we can find a happy medium.

That’s been the really cool part about it, and it’s been a big part of why I’ve enjoyed my time. I would like to see myself having a positive impact on people, whatever I do next.”

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