Peter ONeill

Gungahlin head coach Peter O’Neill has concluded a 32-year association with the club and ACT rugby. O’Neill’s involvement has included more than 230 first grade games as well as representing the ACT and NSW Country. After an esteemed playing career he went on to coach various Canberra Vikings and ACT representative sides as well as establishing the Eagles as finals regulars in the Canberra club competition. The Eagles bowed of out of the 2008 Tooheys New Jonh I Dent Cup last weekend when they were beaten by Royals 40-24 at Viking Park. Brumby Jack caught up with ‘PON’ to discuss the past 32 years and his thoughts on the remainder of the finals series.

Brumby Jack: Now that you’re not going to be at the helm of the Gungahlin Eagles next year, will you know what to do with your Saturdays?
Peter O’Neill: My wife Anne and I are going to go overseas for about six to eight weeks. But I’ll still be thereabouts; I’ll certainly go and watch. It’ll be nice to sit down with a few of my mates and just watch the game as opposed to having to analyse it.

BJ: How do you feel that your long association with the club in an official capacity is over?
PO: You never say never but it is sad – it’s been a big part of my life and my family’s life for such a long time. It’s going to be hard, 32 years is a long time. I’m going to move on, there are a number of other things I want to move on to and do. As they say, a change is as good as a holiday.

BJ: What have been the highlights of the 32 years?
PO: I think the friendships. I’ve got some great mates and they range from 60 to 18 and I can assimilate with them all. The friendships I’ve made have been the best things and I’ve got a lot of good memories with the games I’ve played and the teams I’ve coached. When one of the boys left school I got him an apprenticeship and coached him for four years and he said to me on Saturday ‘thanks for making me the person that I am’. When someone says that to you it makes you feel like you’ve done something with your life, when you can change other people’s lives for the better - that's one of the biggest things.
 
BJ: What’s the secret to staying involved for that long?
PO: You’ve got to love the game, you can’t do it for money. I just love the involvement and there’s not much better things to do on a winter’s night in Canberra. I love going out there and it’s kept me young and on my toes; you’ve got to keep changing the way you do things, the way you train, the way you play. You probably learn more as a losing coach than you do as a winning coach because you do have to change things. It’s got a affiliation with life the way you do things, particularly in a team sport. You’ve always got people around you and if you can work well in a team situation, that’s what life’s all about.

BJ: The Gungahlin Eagles had slow start to the season and were sitting on the bottom of the Tooheys New John I Dent Cup table at the midway point of the season. Were you confident that the side would be able to come back and qualify for their seventh successive finals series?
PO: At that stage Matt Hawke, Brendan [O’Neill] and Ben McGee were still in the US, Derek [Leefe] was injured and Brendon Pye was still to come back into the team. When you’ve got a third of your team missing it will have an affect but I was pretty positive when we got them back into the team that we were going to make it. It’s just disappointing to go out so early in the piece to Royals. But I do feel that over the past few years Gungahlin has punched above their weight; we certainly don’t have the financial resources that a lot of the other clubs do. When you look at our team 17 of the 22 that played on Saturday were ex-Daramalan so there’s been a lot of good junior development done there and I bet you no other club in Canberra could say they’ve got 17 juniors in their first grade squad.

BJ: What’s your tip for this weekend’s preliminary semi final between Easts and Royals?
PO: Queanbeyan/Easts probably wasn’t the greatest game and I think they negated each other with some pretty punishing defence. Royals just seem to have that edge in the forwards and the backs – they’re brutal at the breakdown and they’ve got some really good ball runners in [Tim] Cornforth and Ben Johnson at fullback and they’ve certainly got pace out wide to stretch any teams’ defence.