Peel Thunder coaching hopeful paving his path to higher levels

The 31-year-old was looking forward to his roles at the WAFL club as a midfield development coach in the reserves and the runner for the league team.

But since then Lawrence has taken on a number of extra initiatives that are helping him forge his path to higher levels of the game.

He was recently sponsored to study under the Next Coach program, which has helped kick-start the careers of AFL coaches Adam Simpson and Simon Goodwin, and was selected to be the head coach of the AFL International Boomerangs Team.

“It’s been really exciting for me. At the start of the year I didn’t have plans to take on anything extra but as the season’s rolled on I’ve been given these great opportunities,” he said.

Led by long-serving AFL assistant David Wheadon, the Next Coach program has guided a number of AFL stars to their coaching destinations.

But this year, the eight-week course opened its doors to community coaches looking to pave their way to the elite level.

Lawrence is one of the few up and coming coaches who was chosen to take advantage of the mentoring, and said it had been a huge help in his development as a coach.

“Names like Sam Mitchell and Aaron Sandilands have gone through the program so it’s a real privilege to be able to be among those guys looking at coaching,” he said.

“I’ve learnt so much that I just wouldn’t have known without Next Coach.”

Lawrence attributed his love of coaching to his time at Peel Thunder working under the likes of head coach Cam Shepherd and assistant Roger Hayden, saying the club had given him every opportunity to become a better mentor to players.

“When you get to learn under blokes like that it makes it really easy to enjoy the game,” he said.

“As a coach you really want to build relationships with the players and give them strong support and direction, and my time as the midfield coach of the reserves and runner of the league team has really allowed me to do that.

“Being at Peel with the Fremantle alignment you also get an insight into how the AFL system works which is huge exposure for me as a young coach.”

Lawrence’s goal is to one day find his way into the AFL system.

“If I could one day help develop players through the top level – that’s my aspiration,” he said.

“Right now I’m really enjoying being at Peel and just soaking up all the knowledge I can.”