Mick Byrne (Australian footballer and rugby union coach)

Michael Byrne (born 2 December 1958), nicknamed Mick the Kick,^[2] is a former Australian rules footballer and rugby union coach, whom specialises in kicking and team skills. Byrne played with Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1977 to 1989. He also coached his junior side in 1994–95. Currently Byrne is the head coach of Super Rugby Pacific team Fijian Drua.

Mick Byrne

Birth name	Michael Byrne
Date of birth	(1958-12-02) 2 December 1958 (age 65)
Height	200 cm (6 ft 7 in)
School	St Paul's College, Manly
Rugby union career
Coaching career Years Team 2002–2003 Leinster (Skills coach) 2003–2005 Scotland (Skills coach) 2005–2015 New Zealand (Skills coach)^[a] 2016–2020 Australia (Skills coach) 2021–present Fijian Drua
Australian rules football career Personal information Original team(s) North Shore (Sydney) Height 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) Weight 86 kg (190 lb) Position(s) Ruckman Playing career^1 Years Club Games (Goals) 1977–1982 Melbourne 056 0(41) 1982–1986 Hawthorn 090 0(97) 1987–1989 Sydney Swans 021 0(12) Total 167 (150) Representative team honours Years Team Games (Goals) 1988 New South Wales ^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1989. Career highlights Hawthorn premiership player, 1983 5th in Brownlow Medal, 1983 Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Football career

Victorian Football League

A 200 cm tall ruckman, Byrne started his career at Melbourne in 1977 and one game into his sixth season with the club decided to cross to Hawthorn. Byrne kicked 8 goals straight in his debut game for the Hawks against Footscray in 1982. He finished the year with 47 goals. In 1983, Byrne finished equal fifth in the Brownlow Medal and was a member of Hawthorn's premiership side, kicking three goals in the Grand Final.

He holds the Hawthorn record for the most behinds in a VFL/AFL game without a goal, after kicking 0.8 in a game against Melbourne in 1985. In the history of the league, only Stuart Spencer and Tom Allen are known to have kicked more behinds without a goal (11).^[3][4][5]

Byrne moved to Sydney in 1987, playing 21 games for the Swans before his retirement at the end of the 1989 VFL season. In all Byrne played 167 league games and kicked 150 goals.

Rugby union coaching

Following his retirement, Byrne became involved in coaching, with his long kicking ability proving an advantage as he became a skills coach in rugby union. He worked as a coach in England and Scotland in the early 2000s.^[6] Byrne was appointed skills coach of the Leinster Rugby Club alongside Australian coach Matt Williams in the 2002–03 season.^[2] In 2003, Byrne, as well as Williams, left Leinster for Scotland for the same roles.^[2]

New Zealand, Australia

In the role from 2003 to 2005, Byrne left Scotland following an appointment by New Zealand as a skills and kicking coach in May 2005,^[7] which saw him in the role for over a decade. During his tenure as specialty coach of New Zealand, Byrne won two rugby world cups (2011, 2015), eight Tri Nations / Rugby Championship trophies (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) and a British and Irish Lions tour (2005). Before leaving New Zealand, Byrne was quite involved with Auckland-based Super Rugby team the Blues whilst simultaneously remaining inside the All Blacks coaching team.^[8] When Byrne left New Zealand in December 2015,^[7] the team had accrued a win percentage above eighty-seven percent and is often praised as having deep involvement in building the "All Blacks Empire".^[9]

Several months after leaving New Zealand with a desire to be closer to his family in Brisbane, Queensland, Byrne was hired as a skills coach for the Wallabies (July 2016) on a four-year contract,^[2][10][11] working alongside coach Michael Cheika. Unfortunately, during his four years with the Wallabies, the team failed to win a single major trophy. However, did win the Mandela Challenge Plate (2016, 2017, 2018), the Puma Trophy (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), the James Bevan Trophy (2016, 2017), the Hopetoun Cup (2016) and the Trophée des Bicentenaires (2016). Byrne was with the Wallabies from July 2016 to March 2020.^[11][12]

Record of national team during tenure as Skills Coach

Team	Span	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
New Zealand	May 2005 – December 2015, 10 years, 7 months	146	128	2	16	87.67%
Australia	July 2016 – March 2020, 3 years, 8 months	49	23	2	24	46.94%

Fijian Drua

On 24 September 2021, Byrne was announced as the head coach of the Fijian Drua ahead there first season in the Super Rugby (2022).^[13][14][15] It is the first role Byrne has had as a head coach of a major professional team.

References

Notes

1. Whilst in the specialty role of Skills/Kicking coach of New Zealand, Byrne had played a specialty coaching role within the Japan rugby team from 2009 to 2011.^[1] He also had significant involvement with Super Rugby team, the Blues between 2012 and 2014.^[1]

Citations

1. "Mick Byrne – LinkedIn". LinkedIn.
2. "Ex-Leinster skills coach 'Mick the Kick' back in ancestral home with Wallabies". The42.ie. 24 November 2016.
3. AFL Tables: Accuracy
4. Lovett, Michael (2004). AFL 2004 – The Official Statistical History of the AFL. AFL Publishing. ISBN 0-9580300-5-7.
5. The Age, "Inaccurate ruckman kicks on as specialist" , 4 February 2007, Samantha Lane
6. Growden, Greg (4 November 2004). "Australians breathe life into Scots' game". The Age.
7. Napier, Liam (19 December 2019). "Mick Byrne moves on in one of two changes to All Blacks management for 2016". Stuff.
8. "Rugby: Byrne warning over Kaino pressure". Otago Daily Times. 29 March 2014.
9. Payten, Iain (19 February 2016). "Meet former AFL flag winner who helped forge an All Blacks empire". The Daily Telegraph.
10. Payten, Iain (23 July 2016). "Wallabies recruit former All Blacks skills coach Mick Byrne in search of World Cup winning alchemy". The Daily Telegraph.
11. "Former All Blacks skills coach Mick Byrne joins Wallabies". Stuff. 24 July 2016.
12. Robinson, Georgina (30 January 2020). "Plot thickens in search for Wallabies forwards coach". The Sydney Morning Herald.
13. "Fijian Drua Appoit Byrne As Head Coach And Nacanieli Cawanibuka As Head Of Athletic Performance". Fiji Rugby Union. September 2021.
14. "Super Rugby's Fijian Drua appoint Aussie Mick Byrne as first head coach". rugby.com.au. 24 September 2021.
15. Snape, Jack (10 November 2021). "Mick Byrne went from being sacked by Ron Barassi to VFL glory, and now boss of rugby's big hope". ABC News.

External links

• Mick Byrne's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Demonwiki profile
• Hawksheadquarters profile