Welcome to another episode of The Blind Side Podcast, I’m your host Nath Smith and this episode I chat with an old school buddy who I competed with and against through our early years, with him going on to play Rugby Union at the highest levels. 

His career included over 100 super rugby games for the Waratahs, Brumbies & Rebels as well as 23 tests for the Wallabies, my guest today is Mark Gerrard.

My chat with Mark was easy and flowed, so much so that I have broken it up into 2 halves and will release the 2nd half next week in another episode.

Mark had a massive career and comes from an exceptionally talented sporting family and we talk about what that was like growing up, we also delve into his footy career, his own family unit now and also his newfound passion for coaching.

One of the really interesting things we talk about is the mental battles of him missing his debut for the wallabies through injury, not once but TWICE. 

We also talk about the challenges of being a Dad at 22 and being away from home and also the flipside of that and how his son and wife gave him such a good grounding and value for being in the moment.

Mark and I go delve into his coaching philosophies and his time in Japan and more recently at the Warringah Rats and now on to his next challenge coaching in a start-up league in the United States in Texas.