Dan McKellar: Leicester Tigers head coach on evolution and change at Premiership side
- Published
Tigers have 'to love coming to work' - McKellar
It is in a garage in Brisbane that Dan McKellar first got to work as Leicester Tigers boss.
This, of course, was no classic restoration job.
What McKellar had left the Australian Wallabies coaching staff for was a Tigers side that had already been rebuilt back into an English Premiership force.
It was only eight months before his appointment that Tigers clinched their 11th title under Steve Borthwick - a feat that would earn him the job as England head coach and pave the way for McKellar to move to Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
"I said from day one that I wasn't coming in here to change the world, but we want to get better," McKellar told BBC Radio Leicester.
"I'll push and expect myself, the staff and players to have that attitude, to get better and better every day.
"It wasn't a blank whiteboard that I started with. When I was appointed back in February I got straight to work.
"I spent a lot of time in my garage, my little office in Australia, working away. There were a lot of Zoom meetings and watching a whole lot of vision of the boys, and getting to know the players from afar."
'A tremendous group'
This is a side that boasts vintage Leicester grunt in its pack - driven by captain and Argentina hooker Julian Montoya, veteran England prop Dan Cole and hard-hitting South Africa number eight Jasper Wiese.
Among the backs McKellar has a collection of World Cup stars to call upon, including the sleek Freddie Steward and enduring Ben Youngs, while Tonga outside back Solomone Kata is among 14 new faces at Tigers.
British and Irish Lions international Anthony Watson would have provided plenty of highlights in the videos McKellar watched, and unsurprisingly he is trying to get the winger back.
McKellar says he has a "tremendous group" at his disposal.
And it is one that has managed to get itself to the top of its Premiership Rugby Cup group with four wins from five games, in the absence of all its World Cup stars.
When McKellar oversees Tigers' opening league game of the season at Bristol Bears on Friday, he will be the fourth head coach to oversee Leicester in the Premiership in as many years.
"The first thing I spoke about was change," said McKellar of his first meeting with the squad.
"Human beings don't love change and this group has had a lot of change over the last 12 months, with a lot of different people moving on. The natural human reaction is to get a bit anxious and a little stressed.
McKellar officially started as Leicester Tigers head coach in July
"I didn't need to put the broom through the club, change the roster or make mass changes to the staff.
"Naturally, from one year to the next there is always some change, a few coaches move on and we brought in some new coaches.
"There is a really positive feel amongst the playing group. I'm big on connection and big on enjoyment. Obviously we are professional rugby players and coaches, we have to work hard and do what we do well, but you also have to have that environment where you love coming to work."
A more 'relaxed' Tigers
Hanro Liebenberg, who has shared Tigers' captaincy with Montoya, is in his fifth season at Leicester and playing under his fourth boss in that time.
In his time at the club he has been subjected to the full spectrum of emotions on the field, from enduring record losses and battling to avoid relegation to their triumphant renaissance at Twickenham.
When asked by BBC East Midlands Today about what McKellar is like as a coach, Liebenberg immediately smiled as he said: "He is good, it's a lot different to what we had in previous seasons.
"It's a lot more relaxed in a way, but it is in a good way if I can say that."
What Leicester will be this season, Liebenberg says, is a side that has "evolved" under the Australian.
"What Dan is about to do is keep what we have done well and evolve that," he said. "The way we attack, the way we kick, the way our set-piece works.
"The character of this group has always been open to change, always adapting and evolving. We have gone through so many changes these last few seasons. But the guys have the ability to keep working hard and just stay at it."