Former Canterbury Bankstown Bulldog Kerrod Holland has come back to his roots, coaching the rugby league club he played at when he was 5 years old.
Kerrod is the Head Coach at the Singleton Greyhounds, part of Hunter Valley Group 21 Rugby League where he started playing in the under 6s and all the way through until he moved over to the Cessnock Goannas to see if he could make it in the Newcastle Rugby League competition.
He had no expectations but ended up making it onto the Newcastle Rebels representative team which is when things really got serious.
“Matt Lantry – who at the time was the coach of Central Newcastle, now the Maitland coach – was taking on the coaching role for the Knights Reserve Grade. Back in the day, I got a letter in the mail asking if I wanted to come down and train.
“At the time they had a squad of 30 kids that was cut down to 10 players as reserves for the Newcastle competition. I was called up for Round 5, played terribly and didn’t get the call up again until Round 12.
“After that I didn’t miss a game. I scored 18 tries I think, and we won the Grand Final. I made the NSW Cup team that year too even though I was only playing footy part time and working as an electrician in Singleton.”
It was then that Kerrod decided if he was going to make a play at professional NRL, now was the time. He got offers from the Warriors, the Rabbitohs and the Bulldogs.
“I wanted to stay in Newcastle, I went to the Knights and made my case but they had nothing for me so I walked out of that meeting pretty disheartened. I loved the Knights, and I wanted to play for them but instead I hung up my work boots and went to Sydney to play for the Bulldogs.
“Reflecting on it, it was the best time of my life.
“I wanted to inspire the next generation. Josh King, another Singleton boy, and I would always go back to the Greyhounds for their awards at the end of the season. It’s about giving back to where you came from. I was one of those kids once.”
Halfway through 2020, there weren’t any concrete NRL deals on the table for Kerrod except for a contract overseas in the UK so he decided to come home to Newcastle.
While he was playing with the Bulldogs, Kerrod had the opportunity to study so when he came out of the NRL bubble he could move into financial advisory. He worked for a company before going out on his own starting ‘Tenex Wealth’.
Starting his own company gave him the flexibility to give back.
“The Greyhounds reached out nearly every year since I finished playing professional football and finally last year because I had started my own business I had the flexibility to make it work for me.
“Coaching is challenging but wonderful. We have 105 registered male players across First Grade, Reserves and under-18s, the most the Club has had in a long time. The participation rate has bucked the trend in Group 21 Rugby League.
“It’s been a challenge for me to learn to understand that not everybody has the same level of details to their game that I had going through the NRL. The part that is most challenging is the generational gap. Most of these guys are 10 to 15 years younger than me; when I played once upon a time we’d be yelled out or sworn at but that’s not how it is now.
“You have to understand what works best for each player and sometimes they just need a hug.
“We have plenty of players to choose from and so far this season we’ve tripled the wins from this time last year. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to being back some of what I’ve learnt to help the next generation coming through,” said Kerrod.
