THERE was a time he lined up for the Newcastle Knights, he's coached Western Rams teams and Group 10 premier league outfits, but now Kurt Hancock is embracing an entirely new rugby league challenge.
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Hancock is now working to develop the next generation of female rugby league stars.
This season Hancock has put his hand up to coach the Panorama Platypi's under 13s development squad which will compete in the Western Women's Rugby League competition.
While the WWRL is now entering its third season, this is the first time it has included under 13s.
"Obvious my daughter is playing and they were looking for a coach. I thought that if she wants to play then I guess I should do something," Hancock said.
"She wanted to do the contact side of things, tackling, so I thought she may as well do it right and get some good habits early on and I'll help out."
Hancock has 20 players in his squad and he has been working on teaching them the basics. Some such as Freya Hodges, who played in the under 11 Group 10 Junior Rugby League premiership winning Bathurst Panthers side, are familiar with tackling.
Others such as Hancock's daughter Tilly bring with them skills learned in league tag.
While there is still plenty of development to be done, Hancock sees plenty of raw talent to work with.
"There are a lot of girls there that, if they want to chose that as a career path later on, whether it's rugby, or league or AFL now with all the options there for women's sport, they look to have that potential," he said.
"It's been actually really good to slow down and coach and get back to the basics of it all. It's way different to the boys or the older guys I am used to coaching, some of them have got bad habits and like to learn whacking each other on the run whereas the girls, the learn pretty quickly.
"The skill level there with some of them is pretty good, there are some good off-loads, but it's still a transition and a development thing."
The main focus for Hancock is teaching the correct tackling techniques and he hopes it will make his young Platypi ready for the step up into under 14s next season.
"The number one thing is the defence side of things, where to put your head and where not to put your head when tackling, and becoming used to the contact," he said.
"That's where the boys get the head start on them, they do it from when they are under 6 and learned the knocks, how to fall on the ground, where to put their heads from making mistakes while they were doing it.
"These girls haven't been able to do that, so they'll get that over the next couple of years and I think this will really take off."
