How NSW captain defeated concussion demons

After the disappointment of missing Rugby World Cup selection, halfback Jake Gordon has been reappointed NSW Waratahs captain in what is a crucial season for the club.

The Waratahs – now owned by Rugby Australia – have made the quarter-finals in the last two seasons but were outclassed by New Zealand opponents, putting coach Darren Coleman on notice.

Gordon spoke to Wide World of Sports ahead of the club’s Super Rugby Pacific season opener against the Reds on Saturday.

Watch the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport, kicking off on February 23. Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD

Waratahs captain Jake Gordon and Reds captain Tate McDermott in Auckland.

WWOS: You’ve had a pretty interesting lead in to this season with a club stint in France and a serious health scare. Can you run me through what that has been like?

Gordon: Yeah, it was a little bit strange. It’s been an interesting eight months. I got concussed in the last game of Super Rugby before our quarter-final against the Blues. So I missed that game, had about three weeks off. I was still training in that period and then played an Australia A game before leaving to go to Toulon and had another knock in that game. And, yeah, it just didn’t feel great.

I then had to fly over to France, massive travel and when I got there it was time to start training again. I just wasn’t in a great spot. I was feeling a little bit off and Toulon were great actually, they were incredible around my health, which was the most important thing.

I saw some specialists over there and they said it’s better off that you have one or two months off and return home. It was a challenging period and I can be neurotic at times. I was overthinking and the awareness that’s been raised around concussions played a part in that too. But I’m back to full health now.

Jake Gordon of the Waratahs leads his team onto the field.

WWOS: What was the final step in regaining that confidence to return to full contact training?

Gordon: I saw a number of different people and everyone was on the same page, there were no conflicting ideas around my return to play.

We took our time and I did a lot of different technique work around the positioning of my head, which was getting me in a little bit of trouble. I had my head on the wrong side of the tackle a few times and we addressed that. I got bumped off in the first tackle (in a trial game against the Reds), which wasn’t good either, but it was a wake up call and you’re back into it.

WWOS: You’ve had heavy pre-season losses against the Rebels and the Reds. No-one will judge you on those at the end of the season but are you concerned about where the team is at?

Gordon: It’s not ideal. Last year we got to round four or five and were having these conversations. The benefit that we have now is we’ve addressed it early. It was disappointing but we’ve had years where we’ve performed really well in trials and haven’t had the best years.

Definitely some takeaways that we need to work on and the beauty of it is we play the same team (Reds) in round one.

Darren Coleman of the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium.

WWOS: The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Darren Coleman has just four games to secure a new contract. Is it fair to say that’s an extra layer of pressure you maybe don’t need? Or is that just the nature of high performance sport?

Gordon: That’s part of it, I guess. I’m not involved in those conversations, but there’s pressure every year, especially when you’re in Sydney and you’ve got 10 league teams and AFL gets pumping. So performance is paramount and there is pressure every year. We’re all feeling it and Super Rugby’s a short competition.

WWOS: You finished sixth the last two seasons so it’s not like you’re wooden spooners or anything. But what are the keys if you are going to progress to the top four?

Gordon: I actually thought we competed way better in 2022. We were definitely more accurate and that comes down to a few things around individual skill. Also, for those later parts of the game, we’ve strengthened our bench, which is really important.

We found that around that 60 minute mark, we’d be in games and then we probably didn’t get the punch we wanted from our bench.

So we’ve really stacked up there with some big, powerful guys, which is very important. We’ve got a good team on paper and if we all pull together we’ll be a tough team to beat.

Miles Amatosero of the Waratahs.

WWOS: Big Miles Amatosero is easy to spot at training. Has he adapted from the different style in France, is he up to speed with what you guys are trying to do?

Gordon: Yeah, he spent three years over at Clermont and his transition’s been good. He’s really athletic.

I’m not saying that second rowers aren’t athletic – but he’s one of the more athletic ones I’ve seen. Really big frame, strong, physical – you saw that in the first two trials. He’s happy to put his shoulder into people, hopefully not late (Amatosero was yellow carded against the Reds)! But no, I’ve been really pleased with him.

He’s been a great addition to our team. Second row is a really important part of set piece and having a guy that tall (203cm) at lineout time and a big body like that (125kg) in scrums and mauls will be really beneficial for our team.

Dave Porecki of Australia speaks to the media at Parc Olympique.

WWOS: You’ve got Dave Porecki alongside you as your vice-captain. He ended the Rugby World Cup as the Wallabies captain and I’m interested about the chats you’ve had with him about that experience. That was a pressure cooker environment…

Gordon: Yes, it’s a good balance with our leadership team. Dave learned a lot from the World Cup and he’s been really open around sharing some of those things. Things he thought they did well and probably not so well.

I’ve also got Jed Holloway who’s captained the team a lot. He runs our lineout and is heavily involved in our team strategy. He’s been really good. You’ve got to lean on guys. I’ve learnt things that I am good at and things that I’m not so good at. It’s been smooth so far.

WWOS: It’s no secret you’ve got some incredible X-factor with Mark Nawaqanitawase and Max Jorgensen on the edges, and Izaia Perese and Dylan Pietsch as well. Is it all about getting them nice early ball, early touches in games, because they can really break things open…

Gordon: Absolutely and that’s something we struggled with early last year, getting them early, quality ball. We’d get them the ball maybe a phase too late or when they’ve got a number of guys around them.

If we can get them early ball with them one-on-one, the chances are they’ll beat them. We’ve tried to frame our attacking play to be able to unleash them, working on ways that we can get them the ball.

ROUND ONE FIXTURE

Reds vs Waratahs: Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, Saturday 8.05pm AEDT

WARATAHS 2024 SQUAD

Props: Angus Bell, Archer Holz, Daniel Botha, Hayden Thompson-Stringer, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Tom Lambert, Tom Ross

Hookers: Dave Porecki, Mahe Vailanu, Theo Fourie

Locks: Miles Amatosero, Fergus Lee-Warner, Hugh Sinclair, Jed Holloway

Loose forwards: Charlie Gamble, Lachie Swinton, Langi Gleeson, Ned Hanigan, Ned Slack-Smith

Halfbacks: Jake Gordon (c), Jack Grant, Teddy Wilson

Five-eighths: Tane Edmed, Jack Bowen, Will Harrison

Centres: Izaia Perese, Lalakai Foketi, Mosese Tuipulotu, Joey Walton

Outside backs: Mark Nawaqanitawase, Dylan Pietsch, Harry Wilson, Max Jorgensen, Vuate Karawalevu