The Melbourne Storm celebrate on the podium after winning the 2012 NRL Grand Final match between the Melbourne Storm and the Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on September 30, 2012 in Sydney. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES
After helping Melbourne Storm to victory last weekend, Ballarat’s Simon Kearney is now taking up a role with St Kilda Football Club.
Kearney, head of sports science at Melbourne Storm, was instrumental to the team’s grand final victory.
“My role was prescribing workloads for players through the season – knowing when to push them harder and knowing when to hold them back,” Kearney said. “I’ve just finished my second year with the club, and have just signed a three-year contract with St Kilda.”
Kearney will start at St Kilda on Monday.
Kearney’s attention to detail and close work with the players’ training regimes assisted in winning the big event.
“At Storm there’s a lot of guys in their late 20s, so they all need to be trained differently according to their abilities and their sporting histories,” he said. “I bring in the latest sporting innovations – I get a good idea of each of the players’ well-being and prescribe programs accordingly.”
Kearney, a former St Patrick’s College student, went on to study sports science at the University of Ballarat between 1997 and 1999. From there, he worked with Melton Football club and the Melbourne Tigers basketball team, before working with Tennis Australia for six years, where he trained Alicia Molik for three years. He then worked for Collingwood Football Club before he made the move to Melbourne Storm in 2010.
Kearney said he was looking forward to making the transition to St Kilda football club.
“At storm, every second weekend we’d be playing interstate. For the year we had 18 interstate games. Now with a young family, it’ll be better for myself and my family to spend more time in Victoria,” Kearney said.
Kearney lives with his wife Dani – who is Mick Malthouse’s daughter – and their two-and-a-half-year-old child in Melbourne. They are expecting another child in November.
Though Kearney lives in Melbourne, his ties to Ballarat are still strong.
“Lots of my family are still in Ballarat - my parents, my brother and my sister,” he said.
He attributes his success in sports science to being open to change.
“You do your job to the best of your ability. I’m always open to change and how I can improve,” he said.
nicole.cairns@thecourier.com.au
